


Eli

by AmosLee1023



Category: Original Work
Genre: Angst, Blood, Character Death, Depression, F/M, Forced Pregnancy, Gay Male Character, Gore, Heavy Angst, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Infection, M/M, Mild Gore, Original Character Death(s), Original Character(s), Relationship(s), Survival, Survival Horror, Teen Pregnancy, Tragic Romance, Violence, Zombie Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-02
Updated: 2018-03-08
Packaged: 2018-09-14 08:27:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 32,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9170737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmosLee1023/pseuds/AmosLee1023
Summary: A rabies epidemic has spread across the United States that leaves whoever infected in a zombie-like, flesh craving state. The worst part about the whole ordeal is that the only sane survivors who have any sign of a vaccine are a group of high school seniors who could never be more contrasting.





	1. Prologue: Vertigo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm remastering this story from the first to latest chapters so that it's better grammar wise, and bloody wise. Who doesn't like blood?

Eli was cold. Panting and shivering, he could feel the heat radiating from the generator gradually over his left side.

He didn’t want to die. Remembering Marla’s face white and caked in blood made his heart heavy. He didn’t want to die. Not like this.

The Dog tore at the generator’s cords, the box sputtering electricity and shocks. Eli attempted to crawl away; to crawl anywhere, but there was a giant tear in his side that kept him pinned to the dirt floor, limiting his movements. The jagged and rough feeling in his chest was unnerving.

Mary, Conrad, Joseph, and Emile had all left him. For dead.

Eli bit back a sob, grasped at the floor and pulled himself as best he could over the dirt when caked in his own blood and despair.

The world was an ugly place and your parents never warned you about that ugly fact.

The Dog suddenly turned back to Eli, the generator coughing thick black smoke. Eli looked back to the Dog with tired eyes and gave a shaky breath before laying his head down, sparing the generator past the Dog a quick last glance.

Eli was too far in his dying self to hear the room’s heavy doors scrape open. The act was followed by gunshots.

It was Conrad, alone. The brown-haired jock fired five gunshots into the Dog’s body, two into its head, and then he ran to Eli and knelt beside him. The Dog was dead, its body lying flush against Eli's with cold coagulated blood touching him.

Eli closed his eyes. He didn't want to die.

Conrad grabbed Eli's bony arm and pulled it around his broad shoulders. "Come on El,” he said, his words silent in Eli's ears. The goth was growing cold and he didn’t do anything, let himself drag along the floor as Conrad walked with him. Once out of the building, Conrad brought Eli into his arms, to carry him back, because he was a limp, passed out rag doll.

l.l

"We shouldn't have let him gone." Emile's accent made Mary scowl.

"We shouldn't have left in the  _ first _ place!" She cried.

Emile looked at the girl with his burning green eyes and Joseph put a hand on his shoulder to ease him.

"Calm down," he huffed when Emile tore his body away.

"Puta." The uttered word made Mary snap her attention to the Spaniard, ready to argue more with him.

"We need to stay calm," Joseph looked from one to another and Mary crossed her arms tight around herself. She nodded towards the food in the corner.

“Even if they come back," she exhaled deeply to calm herself, "we're low on resources."

Joseph nodded while looking to the cans of fish, and mushroom soup.

Emile was allergic to fish. None of them even knew if any of the cans were good or not: they had been grabbed at what was assumed to have been an old lady's house and none of the cans had any printed dates besides the Sharpie that said for five years prior. Joseph's mum always told him though, that cans can last pretty much forever. They didn't have any medicine to test that theory in case anyone got sick from it, though.

The three jumped and Mary covered her mouth at a loud bang on the room's metal door. "It's a Dog,” she whispered and Joseph shook his head, “No, it could be Conrad."

It was too late though, and Emile's eyes widened. “They've found us?"

Joseph cursed under his breath. There was no keeping these two calm. If one freaked out, the other did.

Emile hurried to start grabbing the canned goods, not caring too much about keeping quiet, because it wouldn't help them if the Dogs had found them.

Mary looked at Joseph when there was no following noise, and Joseph swallowed. He started making his way to the door, Mary's whispered 'no' following him in the stuffy cement room. Joseph breathed deeply and leaned forward to the door after sparing her a quick glance. They had to be sure.

"Conrad?" his sharp whisper echoed on the door and another pound sounded, making him jump back with a loud curse. It was always the quiet ones that you had to look out for; it was always the calm pacifists that had the biggest sailor's vocabulary.

"Oh, is it him?" Emile's pitiful whine sounded from where he sat frozen with some cans in his arms. Joseph exhaled deeply.

“I don't quite know yet,” he mumbled and stepped close to the door again, put his ear against the heavy metal. A sharp whisper sounded from the other side, carrying in through the metal,  and Joseph bit his lip.

The Dogs had been evolving lately- who was to say if they had really learned to talk or not already?

He gripped the door's handle.

Either they could sit in the shelter and wait for the Dogs to somehow get in and get them, or they could open this door, kill whatever was on the other side, and go on their way. That, or while they were at it, they could see if it was really Conrad and if he wasn't infected, take him with them and they could  _ all _ be on their way to a new shelter. Either way, opening this door seemed inevitable, and it was best to get it over with so they could leave, because their supplies wouldn't refill in there, that was for sure.

"Fuck it," Joseph reached down into his boot and snagged the knife that rested there.

"Joseph, no!" Mary cried and the man looked to her wide blue eyes. She only stood there, arms around herself. She was too scared to come any closer.

Joseph looked back to the door and pulled the handle, the heavy door's mechanisms clicking and echoing in his ears. He pulled the door open.

"Joseph, let us in!" Conrad slammed into Joseph, knocking the man down before he even had a chance to comprehend if the intruder was a human or not.

Joseph kicked the heavy door shut again and climbed to his feet, looking into the room. Mary and Emile exclaimed, Emile crying out some Spanish prayer at the sight of Conrad dropping Eli onto the cement floor in a sick thud.

The brunette jock looked to the three that stood around him and he clenched his fists, “Get the Aid-kit!"

Joseph blinked and shook his head to get a hold of himself. He looked to Mary. "Get the Aid-kit, hurry!"

The girl nodded quickly and ran to get the box that didn't hold quite as much as they had originally hoped when first 'shopping'. Joseph turned his attention to Emile once Mary was doing her own job.

"Hurry and pack the supplies, we've got to get going!" he called to the Spaniard before going to collect the blankets and coats himself.

Emile snapped to it, hurrying to scramble everything together. He didn't have to be told twice.

"There's not much... How bad is it?" Mary knelt beside Conrad, the jock snatching the box and pulling it open.

"I can see his fucking lung."

Mary's eyes widened and she sat back at the feeling of some vertigo coming on. Conrad was always such a hunk with words.

He grabbed the giant tear in Eli's shirt and tore it open more to reveal all of his side. It was bad. Blood was coating his pale skin to the point it looked like it would stain. The wound itself coughed up blood with every wheezed breath the unconscious goth exhaled.

"Fuck!" Conrad looked at the contents of the Aid-kit, the box emptied in front of him. Band-Aids and gauze pads. He looked to Mary. "Get me the Duct tape!"

Mary looked at Conrad with wary eyes, cheeks flushed with a fever at the situation of a dying boy in front of her. She sobbed an okay and stumbled to stand, going to find the tape and catching it clumsily when Joseph tossed it in her direction while putting things away.

She quickly hurried back to the brunette and held out the tape, Conrad snatching the black role and grabbing the end. He tore the tongue from the body, eliciting a loud crunching sound at the length that he tore free, reaching for the strip and grabbing it with his teeth to rip it free.

"Sorry Eli."


	2. Chapter One: I've Seen Things You Couldn't Imagine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was a very rare and strange happening: the jock, the foreign exchange student, the lead cheerleader, the genius, and the school's teachers' aid all teaming together. It was survival, though, and no one seemed to question it at the time it had all started; the time their lives had all changed.

It was a school field trip.

The bus was hot and stuffy with all of the bodies that inhabited it; the bus driver was a short older woman with a permanent scowl and a temper as red as her hair.

Eli glanced around the bus at the heads that showed over the tall brown seats, his music in his ear buds turned up enough to bust a drum but still he could hear all of the shrieks, loud yelling, and laughter. His blue eyes lined in a thick black found the people who stuck out most in the bus, though.

Emile was a foreign exchange student from Spain getting his green card. He sat with a small group of people that he had deemed worthy enough to talk to at the beginning of the school year and as of that moment, he was reaching over his seat to where Mary sat, his slim brown fingers grabbing at the red ribbon that tied her hair up in an attempt to undo it.

Mary sat beside her two best friends, the three squeezing to fit on the two person seat and taking selfies on that new Snapchat app that Eli honestly had no clue what the point of was.

Mary's friend Paige nudged her with her elbow and nodded towards the jocks, Mary rolling her eyes at Buck showing off his biceps in an attempt to get her as a prom date, or even more. From beside Buck, Conrad leaned over the seat in front of him, making sure Marla was getting his homework done in an exchange for thirty bucks.

Marla worked diligently on the Calculus, appearing to not notice the body that hung beside her. She did say something, though, and looked up from the papers straight into Eli's eyes.

He blinked and averted his gaze, silently clearing his throat while biting his tongue. He hesitantly looked back in an attempt to tell himself that he wasn't caught staring and he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that her hazel eyes were back on the papers. His gaze randomly switched back to Conrad and his air hitched when he saw those brown eyes staring back at him. The jock's straight lips started to break into a smirk and Eli looked at his phone to play it off as a coincidence.

Oh, I was looking around for my friend and you noticed me looking at you during my search so you thought that I was staring at you but I really wasn't... Eli was surprised at the big vocabulary of cuss words that he was mentally spitting out at himself.

The bus came to a sudden stop and Eli flung forward in his seat, smacking his head against the one in front of him. Whatever cushion was in that seat did nothing for the people behind it, because it felt like a pillow of bricks.

The goth shook his head and looked to his phone, pausing The Acid- Basic Instinct quickly so that he could hear what was going on. Either they hit something or it was just the driver's shitty parking again. It seemed to be the latter, though, and Joseph the Teacher's Aid stood from his seat in the front.

"Alright everyone," he smiled to everyone. It was weird. He was a quiet, shy, and awkward kind of guy but Eli had noticed that he could completely change his personality to suit the situation. And he did.

"We're here! Mr. Grey and Ms. Diana are in their personal vehicles and will be here shortly as there was some traffic on their end, but we're all going to go on ahead and head inside. Now remember everyone, we're going to be in groups of threes, and it is absolutely  _ prohibited _ to touch any of the animals. Are we all set?" he asked, looking around at all of the students where only five seemed to actually be totally enthused about the trip, and they weren’t important enough for their names to be known.

There were a few “yeah’s”, but it seemed enough to satisfy Joseph. The driver opened the doors and people started to stand but Joseph turned his attention back to everyone.

“ One quick thing,” he stated and twisted his lips while looking around at everyone. “No cell phones. Get in your groups of threes, and on your way off of the bus, hand me your phones. Only one person in each group is allowed to keep theirs and it’s only so that I can call each group to make sure you’re not lost. Come along then, and don’t make me frisk anyone,” he actually kind of looked serious of the frisking, in Eli’s opinion, but he also knew that the fresh eighteen year-old was just reciting Mr. Hemill.

Everyone started exiting the bus in threes and every time Eli would try and jump into line to get off the bus faster, he just got shoved right back into his seat. He’d have to wait.

“ No flash-photography!” Joseph called from outside the bus and Eli looked at his phone. There wasn’t anything that sounded appealing about this trip. They would go and head into different habitats, look at different animals... Eli remembered hearing that there were bats too though, and that hyped him up a tad bit.

It was when the teen finally got let off his seat that he realized everyone was in a group but him. He wasn’t the only one to notice. Standing on the bus steps let everyone see just how much of a loner he was, and the sniggers made him grit his teeth.

“ Eli, come with me.”

Eli looked at Joseph and he grimaced but went. He didn’t want to make the scene any longer.

Joseph opened his mouth to talk to Eli but the other teen walked past him for the resort. Either it didn’t hurt Joseph or he truly was the best actor because he turned back to everyone else like nothing had happened.

They walked in silence, Joseph and Eli. Joseph would stop occasionally to read an inscription to himself, but he’d quickly catch back up to Eli. Eli was set on seeing the bats at least once and he’d be damned if he missed that luxury on such a boring trip.

“ It says here that a main chemical in vanilla flavored foods and scents comes from the butt of a beaver.” Joseph stated and Eli rolled his eyes.

“ I want to see the bats.” Eli stated and crossed his bony arms.

Joseph looked at him from the inscription he was reading and nodded. “Okay.”

l.l

It hadn’t been what he meant when he said he wanted to see the bats.

Joseph had texted each and every group and told them where the bats were if they wanted to see them. Now, Eli was stuck standing between a fat kid and a girl who’s perfume made him nauseous. It seemed like everyone wanted to see them because they were all there save for a few.

Eli spotted Joseph from where he stood talking to one of the people leading the resort, and when he saw how much space those two got to themselves he popped out of his spot and headed for them. Fresh cave air.

The woman looked at Eli and he looked back. She looked away.

“ Apparently we’re the first ones here today,” Joseph stated before looking to everyone else and calling it louder. Some cheered, and Eli looked around the cave. There were different tunnels and crevices, and up high there was a glass section for people with money to view from.

Everyone was told the rules and broke off in their groups, going all in different directions. Eli headed down his own path, trying his best to lose Joseph: he did. He didn’t notice until he himself was lost in a corridor, and when he looked around for Joseph, he wasn’t there.

_ Good _ , he thought through the lost child at Wal-mart panic.

A bat flew overhead and Eli looked around, spotting its red eyes and smiling. He watched it and furrowed his eyebrows when its red eye glow disappeared. He looked around and realized that it wasn’t him, it was the cave.

The lights had been shut off and he was left in pure darkness. It was silent all around.

_ I don’t want to die _ .

Eli suddenly remembered his phone and pulled it out, flashing it around. The light was too dim to see anything other than particles.

“ _ He’s waking up!” _

He scoffed and looked at his phone, going into the tools and turning on his flashlight.

“ _ No, he’s just stirring.” _

A loud shriek made him drop his phone in a clatter on the cave floor and he cursed to himself, kneeling to pick it back up. He looked around while grasping for the device with his black painted finger nails.

More screams and shrieks followed the first after a moment, and he hurried and snatched up his phone. What was going on? Some asshole decided to mess with the lighting?

“ _ No. ...It’s a nightmare.” _

Eli flashed his light in front of him and it didn’t register first just to what exactly he was seeing.

A figure, standing fifteen feet in front of him, craning their back back and staring up at the ceiling, arms bent and frozen in front of them like a T-rex. Eli squinted at the figure and the hitch of his breath echoed in the cave, following the echo of a crack.

Their face was turned to Eli instead of the ceiling and Eli couldn’t even register when it had happened.

The figure suddenly lunged at Eli and he didn’t even have enough time to scream before-

l.l

“ He’s awake, get some more rags!”

Something clamped over Eli’s mouth and he coughed, eyes rapidly overlooking his surroundings.

He didn’t want to die.

Conrad and Joseph sat on either side of Eli, Conrad’s hand clamped over the goth’s mouth, coated in blood that sputtered from the teen during his struggle to grasp what was happening to and around him.

Mary came back with the wet rags, placing one on Eli’s forehead. Conrad moved his hand and Mary started wiping the blood from the goth’s mouth

He kept choking.

“ Mary, get some clean water for him to drink and have Emile  _ do _ something,” Joseph took the rags from Mary and she nodded, letting the man take over the situation. She hurried to where Emile stood pacing and muttering prayers.

“ He can’t breathe,” Conrad muttered and Joseph nodded.

“I know,” he looked at Eli’s soggy, frantic eyes, and shook his head to clear his thoughts. “Just keep him warm.”

Conrad breathed deeply and scoot closer to the teen, looking at the clumpy and ruined eyeliner that had dried to the goth’s cheeks. Joseph grabbed Eli’s chin and urged his mouth open, sticking his fingers in the canal to scoop out the clots of blood that clogged his airway

Conrad looked away when Eli gasped and choked, Emile praying for the dying teen when he puked blood and old food onto himself when Joseph reached in too deep. It was rare for Emile to pray for anyone other than himself and it was sad that Eli wasn’t sane enough to understand him.

“ You’re choking him!” Mary cried and Joseph grit his teeth while wiping Eli’s face clean, Conrad helping him.

“We’re trying to save him!” the jock barked and Mary sobbed, Emile grabbing her to comfort the both of them.

Joseph stuck his fingers in again to clear an entry way and when Eli sucked in a big breath, he removed himself from the scene, flicking his hand clean in the cement room. He looked at Mary with expectant eyes and the beauty hurried over with the water she held. Joseph took it and passed it to Conrad, the jock snatching it and edging Eli up a bit, letting some water crawl down the goth’s throat.

Eli coughed and sputtered for a moment but found himself and took some small sips before he again slipped unconscious. Conrad looked at Joseph.

“ Do you think we should move?” he asked, and Joseph ran his hands through his disheveled hair, puke and barf coating some strands in his panic.

“ I don’t know, I mean, we don’t have any resources here, but it’s too dangerous to move with the wounded: we’d either fall behind or they’d smell us.”

“ I can get fuel for the car.” Mary called and the two looked to her, Emile falling back against the wall and exhaling deeply.

“ What are you talking about?” Joseph asked, and Mary gave a shaky breath, dragging a hand down her face.

“ I saw a liquor store on the way here, I’ll bet it still has some vodka somewhere in it.”

“ I’ll take her.” Conrad stood from Eli, and Joseph shook his head.

“No. You risked yourself for Eli- I’ll take her. You’re better at keeping people safe anyway, so if and Dogs come, you can protect Emile and Eli better than I could,” he stated in his British accent and Conrad sighed.

“Alright,” he leaned forward and took Joseph for a hug, Mary joining.

“ We’ll be back.”

“ I hope so.”

Mary looked at Joseph and he nodded. The two went to grab their jackets and weapons and headed for the door. Mary looked back to Emile, waiting for some word of courage for the two but got none , so she left with Joseph..

l.l

“ Be careful, there’s a Dog!” Mary whispered to Joseph, the young man glancing back to her.

“I know,” he stood a few feet away from her, perching against the side of a train cart.

The Dog stood completely still in the full moon’s light, body giving small jerks here and there.

Before Joseph had embarked on the journey, Mary had led him to the small puddle she used for water and scrubbed him clean with her nails. They couldn’t risk their scent getting out.

Joseph breathed deeply and spared a quick glance to the liquor store. Dogs usually travel in packs. Where was this one’s?

“ Joseph!”

Joseph huffed and nodded. “I know Mary, calm down,” he whispered sharply and Mary whined quietly.

The original plan had been to avoid all Dogs and get to the shop. The thing about that plan, though, was that they could only do it if they didn’t get caught. They were in direct line with that Dog and if it saw them or caught either of their scents, it was over. They had tendencies to call others and Joseph didn’t want to be caught in the middle of that.

He looked at his clammy hand, his blade held tight in his grasp. It was a stealth mission. Murder was necessary. Survival was the goal.

He peeked at Mary and gave her a quick wink of reassurance before slowly stepping from the cart’s corner and into the open view.

Eli wouldn’t make it if they didn’t get this done quick and he was a must have for the team. At least in Joseph’s opinion. Not that opinions mattered anymore, he had begun to conclude.

The Dog jerked his head, the bloody white foam that had gathered about his mouth and was trailing down his chin flinging at the sudden motion.

Joseph froze mid-step.

The Dog’s nose twitched.

Joseph swallowed and stayed still. He looked from the frozen Dog to the liquor store that stood just behind him. If they could just get to it dammit, he’d believe in God.

It was just too bad that they didn’t have arrows- Eli was a master at the cross-bow and this was a time Joseph would really need to borrow it.

He looked back to the unmoving Dog and started walking more, watching his steps for any sticks. The last time he stepped on a stick was the last time they had a nice hideout with running water.

“ Joseph!” Mary called in a hush and Joseph looked back to her. She stood peeking at him from the cart, pistol in shaky hands and staring at him with her blue eyes that let runny mascara stain her cheeks.

Joseph motioned a silent “What?” and Mary shifted, glancing around. Joseph watched her through squinted eyes. Either she was scared or she didn’t feel right about something. Joseph decided it best to disregard her and he looked back to the Dog, air hitching at the empty space of where it once stood. He snapped his gaze back to Mary.

“ Come here, hurry!” he called quietly and the girl obeyed, running over while looking around.   
“I heard something!” she cried and Joseph pointed to the Dog’s empty space.

“He’s gone.”

Mary looked and shook her head. “Fuck!” she looked around them at the empty lot.

“There’s something not right,” she murmured and Joseph glanced around for the dog.

“Like what?” he whispered in his search. Mary grabbed his arm with her empty hand.

“I don’t know.”

Joseph deemed it useless to stand around doing nothing, and when the Dog was declared MIA, he led Mary to the liquor store.

The wooden door proved hard to open, but when Joseph slammed his lean body into it, it came open with a loud squeak from the friction of it running against a falling in ceiling. Mary looked around outside to make sure they were safe before she was led inside.

“ We should find some lights sometime soon.” She heard Joseph murmur and nodded in agreement, eyes wide in the darkness and trembling fingers scrunching in his shirt’s sleeve.

“ Do you see anything?” Joseph asked her while looking at the undamaged bottles. Even in an apocalypse people had found time to destroy a store like this.

They stepped on broken glass and dried alcohol, and Mary looked at Joseph’s shoes through the moon’s light that shone through a window by them. His shoes were worn and it was sad to think that he was getting glass shards through the thin footwear.

She shook her head.  “ No,” she said quietly, turning her attention to the shelves that still held some alcohol. They needed as close as they could get to pure alcohol and she’d be damned if there wasn’t any left.

The Dog had slipped passed both of their minds; solely because they were known to do incredibly odd things and its disappearing act didn’t come close to what any of the group members had seen prior.

“ I found some,” Mary stated and grabbed a bottle of moonshine. “We can use this,” she said and looked at Joseph, the man nodding while grabbing a few bottles of something she couldn’t see in the dark. They had to use a single pure alcohol so she hoped that either he had gotten some more moonshine or at least some pure vodka.

“ Here,” Joseph pulled his jacket off and held it like a cushion, “Put the bottles in, I’ll carry them.”

Mary did as told and Joseph tied the sleeves tight together, encasing the bottles in a bundle of coat. Now that he didn’t have that for protection, he hoped that they wouldn’t come into any danger. Last he checked, Mary wasn’t too good with a gun.

“ Come on,” Mary urged and Joseph nodded, following her when she hurried to the exit.

“ How long can we use alcohol in the car?” Joseph asked, hurrying after the girl when she headed for the path they had come from.

“Not long. We can only use it because it contains Ethanol and even then, it won’t help the car run during the cold. ‘Won’t be able to burn it right in the upcoming weather.”

Joseph huffed and looked around.

A far glint caught his eye but he didn’t falter. That was how you died. Instead, he narrowed his eyes to process what it was. His eyes widened.

“ Run,” he slammed forward, smacking into Mary, and the girl bolted into a quick sprint, Joseph following close behind.

“ What is it?” she called back to him in a panic and he coughed, because he had a smoker’s lungs..

“ Raiders!” he called back and Mary looked at him.

“ We can’t take them to the others!”

“ I know!”

Joseph suddenly stopped running and Mary skidded in the leaves to look back at him

“What?” she breathed, and Joseph shoved the jacket to her.

“ Go without me. I’ll be at the bridge by the time you all reach it.”

Mary’s mouth went agape and she went to speak but Joseph turned on his heel and took off running in another direction.

“Mary, this way!” he called and Mary’s mind processed it as him being bait. To the living and the infected.

She started running again, as fast as she could in the woods and she sobbed at a gunshot followed by yipping and cheers.

l.l

Emile sat crisscross on the cement floor, recounting the supplies and putting them away again

Tuna: three small cans, Cream of Mushroom: one can, Pink Salmon: one small can, Spinach: two cans.

He glanced to Conrad and Eli.

Eli looked like a literal corpse. Conrad lay beside him with an arm around him, and the contrast in their skin colors was so drastic that it looked like Conrad was snuggling with a white doll.

It didn’t help the situation that Conrad had fallen asleep and Mary and Joseph still weren’t back yet. They needed to go and soon.

No, they needed supplies. Medical and feeding. Purified water would be nice too, but that was the first thing to go when the epidemic had spread, they had all come to realize. They may have been the first to discover the virus, but even then they were behind. By the time they had all gone for supplies the shops had been raided and things had been a mess.

Emile sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He wanted them to make it through it all. To live would be a gift. To  _ survive _ would be extraordinary.

Four quick knocks sounded on the door and Emile hesitated, but the slow fifth came and he looked to Conrad.

“ Estãn de vuelta, Conrad.”

Conrad didn’t stir, and Emile cleared his throat.

“Conrad, they’re back!” he called, and the jock jolted awake, leaning up and looking around. He spotted Emile and changed his gaze to the door, slipping his arm from Eli and standing to head to it. He grabbed the handle and pulled the heavy door open.

“ What happened?” he looked Mary over, the disheveled girl shaking her head and pointing off.

“Joseph told me to run and I’m here,” she sniffed and wiped her eyes.

“ And you listened? ¡Dios mío!”

“ Shut the hell up!” Mary pointed past Conrad at Emile, the Spaniard glaring at her.

“ You didn’t care if we both came back or not, you selfish spic! All you do is pray for yourself and you think you can talk to me?” she scowled deeply and Conrad put a hand on her shoulder.

“ Mary, calm down. Did you guys at least find anything?” he asked, and Mary tore her gaze from Emile to look at the brunette. She sniffed and wiped her nose with the back of her hand.

“ Yeah. We got some shit.”

“ Can it get us anywhere?”

“ Not far, but we got it. Joseph said he’d meet us at the bridge.”

Conrad watched Mary’s damp face for a moment before turning and heading back for Eli.

“ Emile, carry the things to the car. Mary, will you drive?” he glanced back to her and she nodded, turning and leaving the doorway.

Conrad slipped his arms under Eli and lifted him up from the floor, bouncing the teen in his grip for a better hold before heading for the car.

Emile and Conrad got in the back, Emile spilling the supplies onto the floorboard. It was frustrating that Conrad had Eli’s legs rest on Emile’s lap while his head rested on his own, the jock putting a few jackets over the cold teen. Mary started the car and stayed silent while pulling away from the hideout.

The bridge was quite a bit away and the three of them knew that it was virtually impossible for Joseph to meet them there. It was a sad, gut eating feeling that left Mary crying silently while driving through a glossy vision, ultimately leading to Conrad taking her place as driver and she taking the place as head rest for the goth that she was sure was dead. It just made her cry even more.

Conrad glanced at the trio from the rearview mirror some time later and gripped the steering wheel hard at seeing Mary asleep with her head against the window.

How would they survive now? Mary and Emile would always be at each others’ throats. If Eli survived, he’d just single himself out from the group. If Joseph didn’t come back, Conrad would have to be the new leader.

He grit his teeth.

No.

Joseph would meet them. Conrad didn’t know the circumstances that surrounded Joseph’s not coming home and he didn’t need to. For all he knew could have been that Joseph... Joseph could’ve seen someone needing help. For all any of them knew, Joseph would show up at the bridge with a fresh new face- someone to lift all of their spirits and to end the forever feud between Emile and Mary. As long as Conrad didn’t know the circumstances behind Joseph’s disappearance, he could make up his own circumstances.

“ _ Hace frío _ ."

Conrad glanced at Emile through the mirror and moved to turn on the car’s heater. Emile didn’t quite understand that everything he said to himself in Spanish, Conrad understood every bit of. Emile was a dick asshole piece of shit, but in these times, everyone deserved to be treated nice. Even if it meant risking your life for someone dying who may or may not make it.

Conrad sighed and watched the broken town he drove through. They had come in contact with Dogs but they were nothing for that mailman.

The car rolled to a stop once they reached the cracked bridge and Conrad turned off the engine. Mary stirred but didn’t wake, murmured in her sleep, and Emile looked at her like she were some strange animal at the quiet noise. Eli was still as a corpse and Conrad couldn’t find the courage to see if he was one.

“ Emile, hand me a can of tuna.” He said quietly and Emile grabbed a can, passing it to the front with the can-opener. Conrad started opening the can and Emile sank in his seat.

He would starve at this rate, he was sure.

Conrad put away the can-opener and started drinking the juice from the can, pulling the lid off and licking it clean before digging into the actual food.

They would wait for Joseph as long as it took. That’s what he wanted to think. Reality had other plans, though, which meant that the Dogs would catch on to them sooner or later, and they would have to leave, not to mention that Eli still needed proper medical care.

They waited for two hours. The outcome was unsettling and made Conrad want to cry. Emile couldn’t mask his own pain, either. It was hard on all of them when Marla passed and it would be harder without Joseph: they had gotten to know him longer.


	3. Chapter Two: One Forget Me Not, Please: For a Friend

“ _ Eli, hurry! _ ”

Eli stared at the hand that was open for him.

Joseph’s brown eyes were wide and his hair flew about, his bangs flapping upward and revealing those coffee colored irises.

The bus was leaving.

Eli stared at that hand with the outstretched fingers, reaching for  _ him _ .

No, he thought. Who would do such a thing?

“ Eli!” Joseph called again and the desperation in his voice made Eli look back into those eyes with his own wide ones. Me?

His fingers twitched at his side and he made a fist. “No..”

“ Eli, take my hand  _ now _ !” It was a guttural yell that startled Eli, and somehow the force of it had traveled behind him, slamming him forward.

He ran for the hand that quickly started getting farther and farther away.

I _ won’t reach it- _

_ You will- _

_ I won’t- _

_ You  _ will.

The teenager threw his hand out and his fingers latched onto Joseph’s exposed wrist, outstretched arm pulling his sleeve back. Eli’s black nails clawed into the aid’s flesh in a feeling of desperation the goth didn’t know was coming from. Joseph took in a deep hitch of air at the sharp pain but wrapped his own fingers tight around Eli’s wrist and with a heavy grunt, pulled him inside.

Whatever determination had taken over Eli to get him into that bus had deteriorated, because once inside, he collapsed against Joseph, the aid falling back onto the bus’ flooring. The two took deep, heavy and jagged breaths, and Joseph looked at Eli.

“ Are you alright?” He asked in that English professor’s accent and Eli placed his hands on Joseph’s chest, giving a quick nod while trying to catch his breath. He pushed off of the other teenager and stood, holding onto a bus seat for balance.

He looked at the driver’s seat while wiping his clammy forehead with one hand.

Mr. Grey seemed to occupy the seat, and Eli switched his gaze to the others in the bus. Who else had made it?

He grimaced at the occupants of those seats. Mary sat in complete hysterics about what was going on, sobbing and trying to call people with her phone. Emile looked to be in the same state but was reciting some kind of prayer and holding tight to a rosary around his neck. Marla looked like she was trying to process or comprehend just what was going on, and Conrad looked like a furious mess.

“ Is everyone okay?” Mr. Grey looked at everyone through the big mirror that hung in front of him, and he didn’t seem to mind when no one answered.

“ We’re the only ones!” Mary sobbed and Joseph climbed to a standing position, holding up his hands.

“No, no we’re not. Ms. Diana gathered students in her suburban,” he stated and Eli stared at him, watching his mouth move. His bottom lip quivered. He was lying.

“ I want off,” Eli murmured and Joseph looked at him from Mary.

“Wh... What?” He couldn’t process things right and Eli glared at the aid.

“I want off.” he stated and gripped the seat tighter from where he stood, body suddenly almost giving out on him. Joseph seemed to have been able to process that because he narrowed his eyes at the goth, blinking in confusion while watching him.

Eli shook his head once and grunted, gripping the seat with both hands when his body rocked back.

“ Are you okay?”

Eli hated that British voice and he looked at the brunette to glare at him, but when he couldn’t find him, he blinked a few times, hard. His focus was hazy but he found the Brit, standing where he was at first but with a different kind of look to him.

“ Are you okay?” Joseph asked again and Eli shook his head to clear his hearing when he heard that warped voice.

“Shut up,” he slurred and rocked back again, Joseph lunging forward to catch the teen.

“ You’re bleeding? You were bit?”

The words echoed and bounced around in Eli’s head and the goth saw his own blood on Joseph’s fingers. His eyes rolled shut and he slumped.

“ _ You were bit?” “You were...” “bit?” “Bit?” “you were bit?” You were bit? bit? bit? _ **_I was B._ **

l.l

Warm. It was warm.

Eli opened his eyes and shut them again when they were stuck. He lifted a hand to his face to rub at his eyes, smearing the crusted eyeliner, and when access was gained for his sight, he opened his eyes again, dropped his arm to his side.

His body was tired and too heavy for him to do much with his limbs. He looked around with his eyes.

He was lying on his side. Wherever he was, it was warm, he concluded. It was light, the room. There was no way it was a light-bulb, so it had to be morning, early or late, he didn’t know.

He tried to move and hissed at an incredible pain in his side. His eyes glanced down at himself but whatever wound he had was covered by his shirt so he didn’t bother.

The others. Where... He remembered the generator room, how he screamed and cried for their help but no one came. Someone else must had found him. The wound was from the Dog, he remembered and shut his eyes again. It was too painful to think at the moment.

“ I’m changing, hold on!” Some voice called and Eli kept his eyes closed for a moment, too tired to look right then. He did open his eyes later though, eyelids heavy.

A man changing a few feet away, taking off a bloody shirt and dropping it to grab another shirt from the floor, pulling it over his head and turning.

Eli was too tired to have any reaction to what he was seeing; fading abs, perfect nipples, happy trail-

The shirt was pulled over the sight.

“ Eli?”

Eli looked up from the shirt to a face with some heavy facial stubble. The brown eyes were a key factor, though; Emile: green, Mary: blue, Joseph: brown, Conrad: brown. Joseph was skinny and if anyone in the group had abs at some point in their life, it was Conrad.

“ Are you awake? You’re awake?” Conrad asked. Eli only watched him silently.

“ Try and talk,” Conrad hurried to the couch he had placed Eli on and knelt in front of him.

Eli swallowed, testing if his throat was moist enough or not. He tried to talk but nothing came out, save for a few broken vowels. Conrad hurried off and returned with some broth in a little dish. Eli looked at it and looked back to Conrad. There was some blood in that facial hair and his eyes looked worn, shadows underneath.

“ It’s chicken soup, I just heated it up a little while ago.” Conrad spoke, and Eli looked back to the dish.

Conrad put it down to help perch Eli up a bit before picking it back up, placing it to the goth’s lips.

“Here, drink it.”

Eli was too tired to open his lips but he did, and he breathed deeply, like he hadn’t been breathing in his sleep. He parted his lips on the container and let Conrad ease the liquid in. Eli moved his face away after a bit and Conrad put the dish down, watching Eli expectantly. “How is it?” he asked, and Eli lounged back on the couch, sinking into his original position. He cleared his throat.

“ Why am I here?” he asked, and Conrad sat back on the peeling floor.

“ Because we needed a new place. There was no food near the shelter.”

“ I mean alive.”

Eli watched Conrad through his tired, blackened eyes, and Conrad breathed through his nose.

“ I went back and got you. Brought you to the shelter and we fixed you up,” the jock stated, and Eli nuzzled his head into the sour couch.

“ How long was I out?” he asked softly and Conrad pondered the question.

“ ..Around maybe two months. I think it took so long because it kept getting infected and we didn’t have the right equipment. You got a bad fever a couple of times, too,” he finally answered and Eli closed his eyes.

“ Are we going to die?” the Goth asked.

“ I don’t think so. We have some good supplies here and some group’s been hunting the Dogs. We just have a few Coyotes here and there.”

Eli looked at Conrad. “Coyotes?”

“ Big Dogs. The ones who’ve been infected longer.”

Eli nodded and closed his eyes again. By now it had to have been about seven months of the infection’s outbreak: the Dogs were bound to get worse the longer time stretched.

Conrad watched him for a moment before tapping the couch cushion. “I’ve gotta check your wound.”

Eli breathed deeply and let Conrad lift his shirt.

His brown eyes looked at the pink spot of shiny healing flesh and he nodded to himself. At least it didn’t look like it was at risk of tearing anymore.

“ I think you can start doing things with us. ...Maybe in a few days actually. You kind of slept for a long time,” he stated and looked at Eli’s face, the goth ignoring him. Conrad pulled the rotten blanket up further on the teen’s body.

It was scary. How do you tell Eli that Joseph is gone?  _ Who _ would tell him that Joseph was gone?

“ Eli.”

Eli sniffed in acknowledgment and Conrad started standing.

“ If you need anything, just call for me. Mary’s sick and Emile’s taking care of her so I’ll take care of you.”

Eli kept his eyes shut. “Well, where’s Joseph?”

“ That’s a good question.”

Eli peeked his eyes open so he could look at Conrad and ask what he meant, but before he could, the jock had hurried out of the room.

The goth looked at the floor from where he lay. What month was it by now? Last he know it had been getting chilly. They’d be dead by December so he was sure it wasn’t that month yet. November, that sounded good. They could hunt for deer if they hadn’t contracted the disease yet.

Eli sighed and closed his eyes again.

l.l

“ What do we tell him?” Mary sniffed and rubbed at her eyes, tears trailing across her temples and into her dirty hair from where she lay ill in bed.

“ The truth, if he wants it,” Conrad murmured, taking the can of heated Chicken Noodle soup to her.

She sobbed,  “ We can’t tell him anything, Conrad, it’s all just so horrid.”

Conrad sighed and motioned a hand. “It’s all we can do. I’d rather him know that Conrad went missing protecting us than us keeping it a secret and him thinking A: he ran out on us, or B: we’re keeping secrets from him,” he stated and Emile nodded, standing silently against a thinning wall.

“ ...He was just so perfect. He knew how to save us,” Mary whispered, placing a hand over her mouth to cough, the cough turning into small sobs.

“ He was human. All humans have flaws, and him saving us was his. But at least he did,” Conrad membered heartedly and Emile sniffed, wiping his glossy eyes with the back of his hand.

“ How will we survive?” he asked, swallowing the pit in his throat.

Conrad pulled Mary’s blanket further on her body and looked to the Spaniard.

“Come here, Emile,” he beckoned and Emile pushed off of the wall, glancing at the silently crying Mary while he trailed after Conrad out of the room.

It was a small, cozy little house. If they could get it fortified and running, it would be the perfect place for them to live in. A kitchen, three bedrooms, a small bathroom that could be likable, a small little study full of books and even a child’s room that unfortunately was splashed in blood. They were a family now and it was the perfect house on the market in the twisted city they had been growing in.

Emile leaned against the bathroom door and looked at Conrad. “Yes?”

Conrad crossed his arms and Emile pursed his lips.

“ If we stay on the track we’ve been on, we can get enough supplies to stay here for maybe a few months,” Conrad stated and Emile gave a slow nod while listening.

“ But?”

“ But...” Conrad leaned close to Emile’s ear and the dark haired teen tilted his head to listen. He looked at Conrad when the words were done being spoken, spectacle and hesitant.

“ Are you sure Conrad?”

“ Sí.”

The two stood there for a moment in silence and Emile huffed, “Okay. Three days?”

Conrad nodded and Emile nodded to himself before edging passed Conrad to head back for Mary’s room.

Conrad watched the floor for a moment.

Shrimp: one small can. Cocoa Puffs: half empty box and stale. Chicken Noodle soup: three smaller cans. Refried Beans: two cans.

He felt as though they were better off at the other place.

Since Eli had been out and Joseph gone, they had moved a total of three times. The first stop was a small convenience store. Outcome: the dogs found them three nights in.

Second stop: a camp of five people. When they had gotten there, it was said that they were only allowing two. They kept Eli hidden in the car a good distance away and Conrad stayed with him, Mary and Emile going inside the camp. Outcome: Emile killed for the first time. The second night had consisted of some kind of argument and from what Conrad heard, Mary was in trouble and it led to Emile killing one of the members. They took some food and ran back for the car, and they drove away.

Third stop: A house that belonged to Emily Gardner, apparent from an old letter they found: their current residence.

They hadn’t come across any raiders or other people for that matter during their stay, but Conrad had seen and heard people and strange noises late at night. He didn't know exactly how safe it was at their current residence, but whatever group was out there had been killing Dogs, and he wouldn't stop them anytime soon. Not until he had a good grip on things himself, first.

He headed for the living room, snaking past Eli's sleeping form and dipping down to grab his bloody shirt. The most disgusting thing about Coyotes was that some would get big blisters and when they popped, it was the grossest thing anyone could have imagined.

Emile was laundry duty while Mary was sick. Conrad was still the guard but with the burden of being the new leader.

"Conrad."

Conrad looked back to Eli and he sighed, "Why don't you sleep?"

"I feel like I'm asleep but then I open my eyes."

Conrad folded the shirt in on itself so that the blood wouldn't touch him, and he draped it over his arm. "Okay, well what's up?"

Eli slipped his bony arm under his head and he exhaled through his nose. "I feel like something's going to happen,” he stated, and Conrad pursed his lips.

"Good or bad?"

"I don't know. I just feel like something's going to happen."

"Big?"

"Big."

The two stayed silent, both their gazes on the floor.

"What's Mary sick with?" Eli asked and Conrad shrugged.

"I think a bad cold. It's about that time, you know?"

Eli nodded and motioned a skeleton's finger. "Where's my cross-bow?"

Conrad rubbed his neck and glanced around. "It's somewhere here, you still have a good amount of bolts."

Eli approved of this and nodded. He looked at Conrad.

“Why did you all leave me, back at the generator room?" He asked.

"You've warmed up to us, haven't you?" Conrad asked and glanced at Eli, the goth watching him. They stared at each other for a moment, their eyes swallowing the other's. It was unsettling for Eli.

"Come here,” the goth beckoned and Conrad walked over, kneeling beside him.

Eli brought his fingers to his mouth and licked the tips, reached out for Conrad. He started wiping at the clumpy blood.

"You'll get a beard,” he stated and Conrad shrugged.

“There's not much to do about it. We lost that one electric razor, remember?"

Eli nodded while wiping away the red.

Conrad and Joseph were the ones who needed to shave. It didn't seem like Emile would be growing any facial hair soon.

Eli finished, brushing his fingers through the hair before moving them back to his mouth to clean them.

Conrad stood and pointed off. "I have to take this shirt to Emile. Will you sleep?" he glanced to Eli and the goth shrugged.

"We'll see."

Conrad left after the statement and Eli looked at his fingers. He wanted to hunt.

l.l

Emile scrubbed the shirt in the little bucket of water. It was November, when the rain stopped. The water was from a week prior and had been repeatedly boiled for sterilization. It wasn’t enough to make their clothing or skin feel clean, but it was enough to muffle the scents on them, and that was the main goal.

Honestly, Emile couldn’t wait until Mary got better: she was the expert in this area, he felt. Before that, it was Marla. She was like a mother to the group, a mother that felt the same pains as them and resolved to make a solution for everything.

Emile sighed and sat back, wiped his forehead with his hand. Women’s work was hard work.

He flopped the shirt into the bucket to soak and stood, stretching his back’s inflamed nerves. 

Three days.

He exhaled deeply and started wiping his wet hands on his jeans.

November was a nice month, cool, pretty; fresh.

Emile stalked out of the room, going and heading out of the house to stand on the front porch. He saw Conrad’s back, the jock kneeling and tying his boots’ shoe laces tight.

Conrad glanced back; Emile waved and he waved back, standing and stalking off for the trees in a heavy leather jacket and an empty hiker’s back-pack.

Three days.

That brown hair disappeared in the forest’s falling leaves and Emile felt that that must have been what it was like for Mary to see Joseph’s disappearance. He sighed, breathed in fresh air of murder and exhaled. He glanced behind him, to the house’s front door. He’d have to watch Eli and Mary- the weak and the ill. He himself wasn’t that strong, but if he was good enough to save himself and Mary at the second province, he could probably pull this off. Three days.


	4. Chapter Three: Save Me a Prayer for I'm a Nonbeliever

Three days had passed.

Emile sat in the closet he had deemed Laundry Room, scrubbing Mary’s ill clothes. He sighed heavily and adjusted his shoulders before flopping back against the wall and dropping the bloody panties into the water. He huffed and flicked his hand dry to rub his aching neck. He glanced at the watch on his wrist.

The time was wrong, but he figured it was probably time to make breakfast.

The Spaniard stood and left the room, going to peek into Mary’s. She was still sleeping, sweaty and feverish.

If the Dogs and Coyotes didn’t kill them, would the common cold instead? That’d be both surprising and unfortunate.

Emile headed for the blonde and pulled her blanket further onto her body, brushing her sweaty hair from her face.

She murmured and shifted and Emile huffed, turning to leave the room and check on Eli. It’d probably just be him and Eli eating again. It meant more food, but it also meant that Mary was getting significantly worse.

Eli was sitting up on the sofa, loading his crossbow.

“Are you hungry?” Emile asked and the goth looked at him before shaking his head.

Emile watched as Eli stood, flung his mail-bag of bolts over his shoulder. 

“Where you going?” Emile asked, and Eli glanced at him briefly, zipping his jacket shut.

“Hunting,” he stated and Emile shook his head.

“ You can’t.”

“ But I will.”

“ Conrad said-”

“ Conrad’s gone.”

The words hung in the air.

Emile looked to the floor and Eli watched him.

“...I’ll look for him,” he said, Emile looking back to him. The Spaniard motioned in distress.

“Well, what about us?” he asked.

Eli watched him. “There’s more food. You’ll watch Mary while I kill Dogs and get nearby supplies. It won’t be much different than if you guys had left me. I’ll be back,” the goth stated and Emile clenched his fists. He and Eli watched each other and Eli shook his head, turning for the door and heading towards it.

“ I’ll be back, just survive until I am. I’m not going too far,” he added while heading out of the house, crossbow in hand.

It was chilly out and quiet. The only animals around were the Dogs, he had realized yesterday. He headed for the trees, glancing around at the falling leaves.

It was early, the sky a light yellow with clouds filling it.

Eli walked until when he looked back, the house was gone with trees in its place. There was no noise indicating any humans or Dogs nearby and Eli pursed his lips, looking at the leaves on the forest floor.

Maybe he’d see Joseph.

No, they were too far for him to ever find them if he had survived. It was sad to think, but it was true. That stupid Brit thought that it was alright to be a hero. Heroes always died, though.

Eli walked until he heard creaking, and when he looked up, he saw a woman hanging, pregnant. She looked like she had been dead for a while, tongue sticking out of her mouth and lips blue, eyes wide. She had been alive before that noose was put over her.

Eli reached into his pocket, slipping out his pocket knife and flicking it open. He reached for the underweight woman, pulled her shirt up over her wide stomach, and started cutting.

The baby fell from her and Eli grabbed it, slicing the umbilical cord and looking to its tiny form.

There was no crying. It was covered with bits of coagulated blood and its eyes were shut, its tiny little mouth purple and its limbs limp, small and cold. Eli stared at the dead baby girl with an almost empty head of hair.

Eli’s eyes swelled with tears and he pressed his lips together while staring at that blurry baby girl. He put his crossbow down and put a hand to her tiny chest. There was no beat.

A sob broke Eli’s lips and his vision of that baby girl was drowned.

He didn’t want to die.

Whoever he had been hearing in these woods at night, they weren’t a sign of salvation. It was a sign that they were murderers and that they were closing in on their location.

He didn’t want to die.

Hurry home Conrad, Joseph. The world isn’t safe.

They needed someone to lead them and that someone wasn’t Emile or Eli or Mary. Eli was tired of heroes.

The baby’s burial had been conducted by Eli himself, near a little river path. He told no one of the baby girl: Mary and Emile would have wept and there was no way for him to tell Joseph or Conrad, but he was sure that Joseph would have tried to comfort him and they would confide in each other, and that Conrad would have gotten frustrated and gone out to patrol. Those were their designs.

Eli sat with his legs crossed, trailing his bony black finger-nailed fingers over the river’s cold water.

“ Eli, are you alright?”

Eli glanced to his side. Those long legs would always belong to Joseph.

Eli nodded. “I’m fine,” he looked back to the water, and Joseph moved to sit by him, leaves crunching under his weight. Eli grit his teeth.

He kept his eyes trained on the water and crossed his arms. “You all left me- why?” he asked. Joseph gave some airy words and Eli glared at the water.

“ What?” he asked bitterly, tilting his head in Joseph’s direction to hear him better.

“ We were scared, Eli. Weren’t you?” Joseph asked.

Eli sniffed bitterly.

“I don’t want to die,” he stated, and Joseph gave an airy laugh.

“Of course, Eli. Neither do we,” he whispered, his hand finding Eli’s shoulder and squeezing tight. Eli closed his eyes and exhaled deeply.

“ Am I a bad person?” he asked quietly. Air brushed his hair, indicating Joseph shook his head.

“No, none of us are. We just get lost, is all.”

Eli snorted and shook his head. “You sound like an old man,” he muttered and Joseph laughed, Eli’s quiet laughter joining before they both died down, Eli looking back to the water.

The hand on Eli’s shoulder started caressing it and Eli placed his own hand over Joseph’s, the brunette entwining his healthy fingers with Eli’s bones.

Eli stared on at the water, breathing deeply. Joseph pressed his lips to Eli’s fingers and the goth furrowed his brows, mouth twitching.

“You’re cold,” Eli murmured.

“I know.”

The words seemed to echo, the trees never letting the voices cease.

“ You’ll keep protecting us, right Joseph?” Eli asked, turning his gaze to Joseph. Joseph put a cold hand over Eli’s eyes and lightly turned his face back to the water.

“ I can’t,” he said.

“ Why?” Eli asked, clutching the teacher’s aid’s fingers tighter.

“ Because I’m gone.”

Eli looked at Joseph and saw nothing but an empty space of leaves.

He looked back at the water and just across the river stood what everyone was calling a Coyote. Their eyes met and the Coyote’s bulbous, swollen eye seemed to recognize Eli. It wasn’t Joseph though, or Conrad.

It gave a loud roar and ran for Eli, and the goth simply stood and raised his crossbow.

l.l

“ He’s not back yet?” Mary asked weakly, Emile patting down her beaded forehead. He shushed her.

“Don’t speak, Mary,” he murmured, pursing his lips.

It worried him, though.

Eli wasn’t back yet.

Conrad had returned a few minutes prior and was unloading supplies in the kitchen. Emile hadn’t told him Eli was gone yet in hopes that he wouldn’t ask.

“ I’m thirsty,” Mary whined and Emile nodded, stood from her bed.

“I’ll get you a drink,” he knelt over her, draping the rag over her forehead before heading to the kitchen.

Conrad looked different, though Emile couldn’t think as to why.

“ Mary’s thirsty. What did you bring?” Emile asked, walking to the brunette. Conrad glanced at him silently while putting the new supplies on the counter. He motioned and Emile swallowed, looking to the goods.

Green Beans: five cans. Bread: One loaf. Rice: One small bag. Fruit Loops: Half a box. Cooking Milk: two small cans. Rice Crispy Treats: Four small packages. Mixed Vegetables: Four cans. Purified Water: Three bottles.

Emile looked at Conrad, eyes wide. The brunette smiled on at him, tired.

“The water’s fresh: purified. The treats...” He grabbed one, tearing it open, “Are treats.” He took a bite and Emile grinned wildly. He lurched forward and took Conrad into a hug, the brunette laughing and putting his treat down onto the counter to hug the Spaniard in return.

“Where’d you find them?” Emile asked and Conrad pat his back, the two slipping away from each other.

“ I found a grocery store a day away- they were in the employees’ room.” Conrad stated and breathed heavily. “Where’s Eli?” he finally asked.

Emile blinked and cleared his throat. “Ah, see… He’s…” he glanced away, rubbing his neck. What could he say?

Conrad watched him, waiting. Three hours and Eli was still gone.

“ Mary’s still in bed,” he finally said and Conrad nodded slowly.

“I know. I’ve already seen her,” he stated, Emile swallowing. His eyes looked to the front door from the kitchen doorway and Conrad followed the gaze. He looked back to the Spaniard. “...He’s outside?”

Emile didn’t answer and it seemed he didn’t have to. Conrad started heading for the front door and Emile sighed, murmuring a Spanish curse at himself.

Conrad peered outside and saw Eli’s dark figure huddled against a tree.

The goth rolled his head to look at the house, and he gave a single wave at seeing Conrad. The jock exited the house, walking to the goth.

“What are you doing?” he asked, Eli raising his crossbow.

“I hunted,” he replied. Conrad crossed his arms.

“You should’ve been at the house. It’s dangerous,” he said and Eli nodded, looking at the trees.

“It is dangerous, Conrad.”

Conrad watched Eli for a moment before pointing towards the house. “Come on inside. I found some food.”

Eli pushed off of the tree and Conrad motioned, letting the goth go first. They headed inside and Conrad cooked vegetables and some rice, making a vegetarian stir-fry.

Mary had stayed awake long enough to eat it and gave thanks before she was ushered to sleep. Emile sat at the wash bucket, waiting for it to heat up over the cooking fire.

Eli and Conrad were changing in the living room, Conrad scrubbing his body with a soapy rag. He glanced at Eli and furrowed his eyebrows.

“ What happened to your shoulder?” he asked, Eli looking to him while grabbing a new shirt.

“Hm?”

The large scratches weren’t something that could be overlooked, and Conrad pursed his lips.

They looked human. The skin of his shoulder was pink with irritation and the scratches were deep, repeated- yellow from the third layer of skin that showed.

“ What scratched you?” He asked, Eli shaking his head while pulling on a new shirt.

“It’s nothing.” he stated, but Conrad was already interested.

“Did you do that?” he asked, Eli looking at him and giving him a look.

“Really? You think I’d hurt myself?” He raised a brow and Conrad nodded.

“Yeah, I do.”

Eli stared at him before shaking his head and pulling his pants off.

“Whatever,” he muttered, Conrad narrowing his eyes at him while scrubbing his left forearm. He suddenly grew solemn.

“...Did you find the woman?” he asked, softly.

Eli nodded. “I did.”

“ ...I wonder if they took the baby, to be one of them,” Conrad murmured. Eli swallowed and gave a slight shrug.

“Who knows.”

“ ...I hope they did,” Conrad spoke again and Eli grit his teeth.  “ What if that happens to Mary? ...What if she ever...”

“ She won’t,” Eli said and Conrad looked at him, the goth rubbing his side wound through his shirt.

Conrad started grabbing the clothes. “Hopefully December will be alright,” he mumbled and Eli looked at him.

“We won’t make it to December if those people keep getting closer. I’m sure they killed that woman,” he stated and Conrad sighed but nodded.

“We’ll take care of them,” he murmured and turned to head for the laundry room. Eli went to lay on the couch and hugged his bare legs to himself, closing his eyes.

The burning of his shoulder was the only thing to prove that Joseph had ever existed.


	5. Chapter Four: If You Kill Me, Do it with Love

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the false update yesterday, guys, I accidentally deleted a chapter and had to replace it, so..
> 
> THIS, is the real update.

 

“ He’s not turning,” Joseph murmured.

“ We should fucking kill him,” Conrad stated, arms crossed tight across his chest.

Mr. Grey shook his head. “No, we can’t. He’s just a boy… just a boy,” he whispered and Mary sobbed.

“But we can’t let him kill us!” She cried and Mr. Grey stifled his emotions, hand over his mouth while he tried to grasp how to handle the situation.

Conrad watched the teacher with stern eyes full of determination and he shook his head again, closing his eyes.

The thought was too inhumane, but they had seen it. The look of thirst,  _ hunger _ in their eyes… The murderous blood lust… It only took moments for them to turn. Why was it taking so long for Eli?

Conrad shook his head again and grabbed the shovel. “No- I’m killing him,” he rose the blade over Eli’s unconscious form and no one made a move to stop him.

“ Mr. Grey, you can’t let him do this!” Marla cried from where she stood with a hand over her mouth, green eyes looking to her surviving teacher.

Mr. Grey didn’t move, didn't speak.

“Mr. Grey!” she cried, watching him; Conrad holding the shovel above Eli- contemplating.

“He could be  _ immune _ !” She shrieked, the shovel’s spade coming down fast for Eli's head.

Conrad’s arms were pushed and the spade whisked through the air, hitting nothing when the teen was thrown off balance. He blinked, looked around.

His eyes found Joseph and they narrowed. “What are you doing?” he asked, the other brunette swallowing, arms shaky after pushing the jock’s aim off.

“ We can’t kill him,” he stated quickly, scared.

“ Why not?”

“ Because he’s a human! Just like us! He may be able to turn the others back, too-  _ just like us _ !”

They watched each other, both scared but on different sides.

“ Please don’t kill him,” Marla whispered from behind her hand, watching them all.

“ Nos encontraron,” Emile sounded from a window of the shed. Everyone looked at him, confused.

“ They found us.” Conrad translated, body growing cold and shaky.

Mary sobbed and the others looked to Mr. Grey.

“What will we do?” Marla asked, the teacher looking at her with wide eyes. He didn’t know.  _ They _ didn’t know.

l.l

“ As much as I’d like us to stay here, we should go,” Conrad stated, Emile and Eli watching him.

They all sat on the living room floor, letting Mary rest in her room.

Emile sighed. “Are you sure?”

Eli crossed his arms. “Yeah, we can’t really keep moving,” he said and Conrad nodded.

“ But it’s not good for us to stay here in the woods. It takes too long to find resources and it’s too risky to keep traveling the distances,” The jock muttered, rubbing his forehead in irritation.

Emile glanced at Eli to converse with him about the subject but he turned his gaze back to Conrad when the goth ignored him.

“ So you’re saying we should find a town, or a city?” Eli asked and Emile raised an eyebrow at the absurd idea, gawking when Conrad nodded.

“ No! No, it’s too dangerous!” he cried and Conrad sighed, looking at him.

“We don’t have much of a choice, Emile. If we stay here, we’ll run out of ammunition and bolts and it’ll be suicide to go out and hunt for more,” he grumbled, Eli pursing his lips but agreeing.

“ We also need medicine for Mary. She’s not getting better here,” he added and the other men groaned, giving nods and small words of acknowledgment.

“ Well,” Conrad stood from the floor. “I guess I’ll get Mary. You two get the supplies. We’ll stop and look for more food and clothes on the way, but other than that we shouldn’t stop too much. The Coyotes are getting pretty bad,” he stated, Eli nodding.

He had seen them.

He and Emile stood, Eli heading for the kitchen and Emile heading for the laundry.

Mary was on her period so maybe they could find some pads, or tampons, too.  _ Por favor Jesus, let us find some _ . Emile started ringing out the clothes.

Conrad carried Mary to the car, laying her in the back like he once did Eli. He was losing weight and his ribs were starting to show on his back, but he still had some muscle and he planned on keeping it for times like these.

He’d carry Joseph for hours if it meant bringing the teachers’ aid back to their side.

He bent Mary’s legs for one of the other members to sit by her and closed the door, heading to the front and getting in the driver’s seat. He started the car and waited for the goth and Spaniard.

“ You can get in the front,” Eli grabbed the handle of the back door, pulling it open. Emile stopped him, shaking his head.

“I’ll sit in the back. I know how to take care of her,” he stated, Eli watching him before nodding and heading to the front, climbing into the passenger’s seat.

Emile climbed into the back with Mary, grabbing her legs and draping them over his lap.. She stirred and moaned in her sleep.

Conrad looked at them all, making sure they were all present before putting the car in Drive and rolling it out of the trees, for the road he hoped was near.

It took almost an hour for Eli to tire of the silence and put in one of the CDs the car had come with. Linkin Park, Koᴙn, and a CD of classical music.

He put in the third, reclining his seat a bit and sinking into it. Conrad glanced at him.

“What are you thinking?” he asked when he heard Emile’s heavy breathing, a sign of sleep.

Eli gave a half-assed shrug, eyes closed. “I don’t think.”

“ You do, though. I’ve seen you cry in your sleep.”

“ Those are dreams, not thoughts.”

“ Dreams are made from thoughts.”

Eli looked at him and Conrad laughed at the flatness in that expression.

His laughter quieted before falling away, and he sighed.

“Maybe we’ll see Joseph on the way,” he said and Eli closed his eyes again.

“We won’t. We’re so far away from him, Conrad,” the goth murmured and Conrad pressed his lips together, looking on at the road.

Conrad stopped the car four times, each at different gas stations, or houses.

He found some pads at a house and a few cans of soda at a store: other than that, people had gotten there before them- when the outbreak had first begun. The supplies they had been getting were only possible because there weren’t many people left anymore.

No more people… that was a sad thought.

A few more hours of driving and the sun dissolved, the sky turning dark but bright by the full moon that took the its place.

Conrad saw a sign that was hidden by white spray-paint, but it failed to cover the  _ 1.8 miles until next town _ .

He leaned forward on the steering wheel, looking around at the darkness that turned into a just as dark town. As long as they could find a house, they’d be fine. Then they could start searching the houses and stores in the morning- as long as whoever spray-painted the sign had died before looting it all.

“ Eli,” Conrad reached over to nudge the goth awake, the dark haired teen looking at him.

“Hm,” he sat up, glancing out of the windows. “What?” he looked at Conrad and the jock motioned towards the town he slowly drove in.

“What house should we stay in?” he asked and Eli moaned, rubbing his eyes before moving his seat back up and looking more seriously out the windows. He pointed, jabbing the cool window.

“Just stop there,” he mumbled, and Conrad parked the car at a house.

The town looked pretty abandoned, but Conrad wasn’t ready to judge the shape it was in until morning, when all would be revealed by the sun.

Conrad opened his door after turning off the car and looked at Eli, the goth’s head against his window and eyes shut.

“Eli,” Conrad nudged him and he shifted away from the jock, eyes staying shut. Conrad huffed and climbed back into his seat, shutting his door again. He locked the doors and reclined his seat, crossing his arms over himself and shutting his eyes.

l.l

“ I won’t get sick, right?” Emile asked, slowly lowering himself next to Mary in the bed. Conrad shook his head.

“No, you’ll be fine,” he brushed off the Spaniard’s concerns, checking his gun’s ammo. Eli stood at the front door, resting his crossbow against his shoulder.

“ Just make sure you both eat and give her water when she needs it,” Conrad spoke and Emile nodded with a sigh.

“Just don’t be long, hm?” he gave a meek smile and Conrad nodded, bending to hug the two.

“We’ll be quick.”

Emile gave Conrad his rosary and the jock kissed it before putting it over his neck and tucking it into his shirt. He turned and headed for Eli, the bony goth pushing off of the doorway and strolling out of the house.

“ We search the block first, then we’ll decide if a store would be good to look at.” Conrad said and Eli nodded, the two walking in tall dead grass, and leaves for the sidewalk.

“I've been meaning to ask. How do you know Spanish?” Eli and, and Conrad looked at him. The jock laughed after a moment and have a little shake of his head.

“My step-dad was Mexican, had to learn the language,” he said.

“Oh,” Eli looked around at the empty houses that littered the town, some lacking both doors and windows while others were fortunate enough to have wood boarded over their missing panes.

The conversation ended there, so they started looking in the nearby houses, Eli stepping in first and making sure it was clear and either telling Conrad to come in or shooting a Dog first.

There were a few Dogs here and there, locked in rooms from when they were first infected, or dead from starvation or murder- a survivor’s survival.

They found some old, dusty cans and put them in Conrad’s bag, putting some articles of clothing in with them but leaving some that had lice eggs.

They both wished they were traveling with Joseph at the moment. He knew how to make everyone feel at home. Conrad could try, but it wasn’t the same.

“ ...What happens when there’s no more food?” Eli asked suddenly and Conrad looked to him. The jock got a thoughtful expression.

“...I don’t really know,” he responded and Eli nodded, looking down the sidewalk at the next house to come. He raised an eyebrow at a house and pointed.

“That one looks like it might have something,” he stated, Conrad following his gaze to a house that looked significantly untouched. He twisted his lips but headed for it anyway.

Eli slipped in front of Conrad, taking lead of the path. Conrad opened the door for Eli and the goth peered in, aiming his crossbow while scanning the area with his blue eyes.

Conrad watched the ground while Eli started stepping into the house. He heard the goth make a noise and looked, quirking an eyebrow at a cord that caught Eli’s leg. The goth tugged for his leg to come free and Conrad looked past him into the living room.

Something  _ clicked _ , and a heavy piece of metal started swinging for Eli, the goth pulling at the cord with his hands. Conrad grabbed his partner and pulled him with him to the ground, puffing when he hit the ground, Eli’s body falling atop of his.

A big metal hammer swung where Eli was standing and slowly rocked to a stop. Eli stared at it, fingers still holding the cord. Conrad stared past Eli at the blood that the hammer had stained on it.

“ Here, hop up,” Conrad tapped Eli’s hip and the goth sat up on the jock, his boney butt jabbing into the jock’s groin. Eli pulled the cord off all of the way before standing and dusting himself off, picking up his fallen crossbow.

Conrad rubbed his jabbed spots before helping himself up. He stepped for the hammer, squeezed passed it and into the living room. Eli followed pursuit, watching the hammer while he also brushed passed it.

“ They have traps,” he whispered and Conrad nodded, inspecting their surroundings thoroughly while taking small, careful steps.

“ Someone has to pull that trap back up every time it’s used,” Conrad whispered in reply and Eli looked at him.

“...That means someone might be here- alive.”

The two met gazes and Conrad grimaced. He turned his attention back to the situation at sake. Eli lifted his crossbow again and went searching for the kitchen, keeping an eye out for any hidden or sly traps.

There was a line of thread stretching across the lower half of the kitchen doorway and Eli stepped over it. He didn’t want to know what it did. He made his way for the cabinets and started looking.

Conrad had reached a bedroom, upstairs. The bed was a king and adorned in blankets and pillows, stuffed animals that dated before the outbreak: they looked dirty, and ratty.

The jock stalked towards the bed and started grabbing the blankets, pulling them from the mattress and folding them tight to stick them into his bag and still have room for other goods.

“ If they find that we’re keeping stuff from them, they’ll kill us,” a voice sounded and Conrad froze. He glanced towards the sound and found a door- a bathroom attached to the bedroom. Attached to that bathroom was a person- a live one, inside.

“ They’ll kill us regardless if we can’t-” a second voice cut in and Conrad flung his bag back over his shoulder, turning from the room and going to head out of it quickly, to the stairs. He skipped steps and hurried for the kitchen, peeking his head in.

Eli looked at the jock, placing cans into his pockets and arms. He brought his eyebrows together and Conrad waved him over quickly.

“People!” he whispered sharply, Eli understanding immediately and rushing to Conrad.

“There’s a trip wire,” he muttered, stepping over it and hurrying passed Conrad, the jock paying little mind to what the goth had said and hurrying to follow suit. They paused outside so that Eli could put the cans in Conrad’s bag for a lighter trip.

A loud crunch sounded and Conrad looked back to the front door. A shotgun was pointed at them, stretching back to a thin, taller man.

“ Give us what you took,” his voice was stern but there was a slight waver to it: he had never killed a healthy human before.

Eli looked at Conrad and the jock bit his lip, trying to think of what to do. Eli waited for a moment longer, raising his crossbow at the man when he concluded that Conrad didn’t know what to do.

“ Finders keepers and I suggest you put that away because I can kill anything with a crossbow,” Eli spoke and Conrad grit his teeth, not knowing how it could blow over.

The man with the gun looked at Eli and he seemed to consider the words, narrowing his sullen eyes.

“Eli-”

“Don’t talk!” the man snapped when Conrad spoke and the jock pressed his lips together, glaring at the ground. Eli kept his crossbow aimed at the man, his dark eyes looking from one teen to the other.

“ Let us go. You can spare some shit,” Eli spoke, the man looking to him.

After a moment, he seemed to give and lowered his gun.

Why?

Eli quickly made his way to Conrad, grabbing the teen’s upper arm. Conrad breathed heavily, relief flooding him when he was out of the gun’s sight, and he started walking with Eli, the goth watching the man stiffly, making sure he wasn’t going to try anything.

“ There’s an alley there,” Conrad murmured and Eli looked. They could cut into that alley and headed for the house from there; it would keep the man from seeing where they were going.

Once the two reached the alley that lay between the guarded house and a house that looked more like a shed, they took off running into it. The only thing that made going through an alley during a zombie-like epidemic good was that it was morning, and the sun protected them from anything that would hide in the dark.

Conrad, being the more fit teenager of anyone in the group, naturally made it more ahead of Eli, the goth a few feet behind. A shine ahead made Eli halt- a warning of the sun.

“ Conrad-”

“ Argh!” Conrad lurched back, clutching his right forearm with a howl of pain.

Blood was quickly swelling between his fingers and Eli raised his crossbow.

“Conrad, come on!” he beckoned with his weapon and Conrad turned to the goth, going to run to him. As soon as Conrad reached Eli, they both started running back in the other direction. Eli glanced at Conrad while running.

“ What happened?”

Conrad was hissing air, teeth grit. He shook his head. “I don’t fucking know! There must be people over there, too,” he growled, clutched his arm tighter. Eli grimaced at the increase of blood and slipped ahead of Conrad.

“Stay behind me,” he called to the jock, the brunette not arguing.

The man from the tripped house was gone and Eli quickly led Conrad passed it before they could encounter any other unwanted guests.

“Is it really safe to stay here?” he asked Conrad while searching for their house.

“No.”

The reply was a shot to the gut and Eli looked back at Conrad, the teen’s face pale. Eli swallowed hard and continued the search for the house. Conrad was losing blood, fast.

Eli finally spotted the house and lept up the steps, going and swinging the door open.

“Come on, Conrad,” he looked at the jock who had started slowing earlier.

The brunette made his way in and Eli went to lead him to a bedroom. If anything stormed into the house, he didn’t want Conrad to be the first thing killed.

“ Lay here,” Eli led Conrad to the bed, sitting him on the edge. “Let me see it,” he knelt in front of Conrad and the jock huffed, slowly moving his slick hand of blood.

There was a quick blood flow and with every pulse to his veins, the blood gushed. A vein. They struck a fucking  _ vein _ .

Maybe that wasn’t the case, though.

“ Okay, okay… um…” Eli put down his crossbow and ran out of the room to their supplies, digging for the medical supplies that had been obtained during their trip to town.

“ Joseph, wake-” he huffed and shook his head. “ _ Emile _ , wake up! There’s trouble!” he called, digging in the aid box.

Good, some fishing wire and some sewing needles; junk they had collected that actually, for once, would help.

Eli stood from the supplies and turned on his heels to sprint back to Conrad.

Conrad looked at Eli with narrowed eyes and Eli went to sit in front of him on the floor.

“It’s just me, Conrad,” he spoke while quickly trying to slip the wire into the eye of the needle. Surviving and Thriving class was, as much as Eli wanted to deny it, probably the most useful class anyone could have in the world.

“ Eli!”

Eli could hear Emile looking for him and he called to the Spaniard to shorten the search. Emile peeked his head into the room and immediately backed back out at the scene before slipping inside.

“...What happened?” he asked, heading over. Eli huffed and shook his head.

“I don’t know. We have to leave though, there are others,” he stated and Emile furrowed his eyebrows.

“People?”

“Yes. I need something to clean Conrad’s arm- alcohol.”

Emile rushed out of the room and to the supplies.

Eli saw the wire slip through the eye and he quickly tied it, looking back to Conrad. He was grimacing, clutching his bloody arm’s wound as best he could with the slickness of his fingers.

Eli blinked in sudden realization and reached for Conrad’s waist, the jock furrowing his brows.

“What are you doing?” he asked quietly, shutting his mouth at the sound of metal clinking.

“ Your belt,” Eli started pulling the black leather from the loops of Conrad’s jeans, and once the tail slipped through that last, he raised it up, quickly wrapping it around the brunette’s upper arm and buckling it tight. Conrad winced when a bit of his skin was pinched into the buckle, but he didn’t say anything. It was nice having someone help him for once.

Emile hurried back into the room with some spare alcohol for the car and went to sit by Eli, the goth taking the bottle and popping the cork from its neck. He looked at Conrad’s brown eyes.

“It’s going to hurt,” he spoke in warning.

Conrad nodded. “I know.”

He took in a few deep breaths to ready himself before remembering the rosary Emile had given him. He slipped his hand from his wound, reached to his neck to grab the cross and clutch it tight. He looked into Eli’s eyes, the goth watching him patiently.

The jock gave a single nod and Eli started pouring the liquor over the wound, using his free hand to scrub the blood clean. Conrad took a sharp hiss of air through grit teeth and writhed in pain, stomping his booted foot to keep from moving his upper half.

“ _ Fuck! _ ” he whined, eyes shut tight.

“ O-h, dios mío..” Emile covered his mouth at the large gaping slice on the jock’s forearm, and Eli flashed the Spaniard a frustrated glare before putting down the alcohol.

“Alright, Conrad, I’m going to start stitching it before it bleeds too much again.” The goth looked at the pink blood that dared to dribble from the wound and Conrad gave a quick nod, face pale and clammy.

Eli poked the needle into Conrad’s arm, Emile watching in terror as the goth slid the wire through his skin.

The Spaniard stood and turned on his heel to leave the room.

Eli glanced after Emile briefly before looking back to the task at hand, working on the second stitch.

l.l

Emile packed everything in ten minutes, leaving the supplies stuffed in a corner of the living room.

Mary was mildly awake, staring off in the distance of the room where she lay, eyes puffy and glossy with illness. She was too feverish to have any thoughts and it made Emile uncomfortable when he saw her like that while passing by for the supplies near her.

It was about fifteen minutes before Emile saw Eli emerge from Conrad's room, hands bloody.

“ How is he?” he asked the goth.

“ I closed it and he’s asleep. As long as we hide the car and keep away from the windows no one should know we’re here; unless they go looking door-to-door, but I doubt they will.”

“ We’re staying?” Emile glanced off to the pile of supplies with furious annoyance in his eyes at already packing.

“ Can you carry Conrad, because I sure as hell can’t,” Eli replied flatly and Emile twisted his lips, turning his gaze back to the goth.

No, he couldn’t. Conrad was heavy. Losing weight with the nationwide situation they were in, but still heavy.

“ Alright,” Emile looked at a window, to the bright sky.

“...It’s still very early. They could find us quickly if they wanted to,” he stated, peeking to Eli. The latter nodded, crossing his arms.

“I know.”

l.l

_ Who keeps a basement anymore? _ Emile thought while peering down the cement staircase that awaited him.

 

“ _ But… Why do  _ I _ have to go?” Emile asked, a whine. _

“ _ Because you’re stronger than me. I can’t shoot a crossbow in the dark.” The response was sensible, yet Emile himself sensed the selfishness. _

_ Maybe he’s setting me up? A dog in the basement to kill me? _

It was a wild thought only for the movies, but he was thinking it.

“ _ They won’t think to look in basements, it’s too dangerous. They’d never suspect a thing,” Eli added. _

_ Okay,  _ that _ sounded fairly sensible. _

_Which was why they_ shouldn’t do it.

 

Emile swallowed, looking down the stairs where the sunlight from a window behind him shown on the steps, just to be dissolved by the darkness below.

He took a step down.

_ I want a gun _ .

Another step.

_ A knife isn’t very sensible. _

Another step.

_ If Joseph used a knife, and Marla used a skiv, I should be okay with a knife. They made it kind of far. _

Another step.

_ But they’re both dead. _

Another step and Emile was engulfed in the darkness.

There wasn’t a light-switch near the basement door, Eli had found, checking for Emile earlier. Not that it would matter; the electricity must have blown, because the other lights also were to no avail.

Thinking back, if they hadn’t left Eli to die in that generator room, maybe they’d have that generator right now. Talk about a bad karma.

Emile swept his hands over the cement walls at his sides, for support if he were to fall. It was a false support, because there was nothing to grab if he did fall: he’d just scratch his nails off clawing at the wall on his way down.

He put his hands to his sides at the thought.

He clutched his knife tight in his left hand and looked back to the sunlight.

Joseph stood at the door, staring at him with coffee brown eyes that looked dark in his shaded face.

Joseph’s hand rest on the door’s outer doorknob and Emile swallowed again, shaking his head lightly at the expressionless features that held something deep.

Joseph shut the door and complete darkness engulfed Emile.

The Spaniard’s air hitched and he turned to face the door, to run to it and to tell Eli that there were a dozen dogs down there just so that he wouldn’t have to be in there again but-

He slipped.

His foot missed the step and he fell back. He clawed at the walls on his way down, scratching the wall with his knife; mere human nature. The only support the walls gave him was that they helped him to shift his weight forward and he almost gained his balance until he placed his foot wrong, shifting his weight onto it at an awkward angle- then he fell.

The sound of a body falling down stairs was sickening; it made Emile so sick that he couldn’t cry out in pain, or for help.

His back and head smacked against the cement stairs and he couldn’t do anything to keep himself from tumbling.

His limbs banged the edge of the steps and the cement was greedy, its sharp nails of gravel scratching and clawing Emile on his way to the floor. He reached the bottom and his head smacked against the floor.

He was still awake.

“ Hu...” Emile breathed heavily, working to get his body up. It hurt, he felt like he was broken and bloody, bent if possible.

“La lámpora,” he muttered to himself.

He’d kill to have a light right now. If there was anything in the dark… He shook his head at the thought, dismissing it. There were things lurking in the light, too. At least in the dark you didn’t have to see what would be your demise.

He managed to stand with the help of some table top his fingers had found, and he used that same top for support once standing. His ankle was throbbing but he couldn’t leave Eli as the sole defender of the group, so he demanded to himself that it was fine, just a slight twist he could work out.

Please, be just a slight twist.

There was no way he could find anything down there without a light, or some sort of vision, so he started swiping his hands over the table.

His brother Edgar had gotten his green-card first and had been renting a house that he let Emile stay in when he transferred down- he was even willing to help him get his own green-card so that they could live together. 

Emile shook his head. That wasn’t why he needed his brother’s memory.

Edgar was a mechanic and kept all of his tools in the garage. He kept lights on a table for looking in engines.

Emile’s fingers brushed something and he grinned to his hurt self. He grabbed the round stick and felt over it, to make sure it was hopefully some sort of light. A button was found and clicked, and Emile’s grin only grew at the dull but saving light that shone from the flashlight.

The Spaniard swept the light around the basement, looking for anything of use or horror and found one.

His smile faded at the sight of three rotten bodies. Two of adult size and one no taller than Emile’s knee.

“¿...Por que?”

There was a gun in one of the adults’ hands and Emile shook his head. How had he not smelled them? Had they been dead since the outbreak first began? Why not fight it? Why not give the child his own decision? Why?

He quickly turned the light from the scene and finished scouring the basement, finding nothing of great importance. He went to tell Eli the news, slowly going up the steps and watching his feet while stepping. It was unfair of Joseph’s ghost to scare him like that. Maybe he was gone, now, though.

...What if Edgar was a ghost?

l.l

Eli and Emile had somehow managed to get Conrad down the steps without much trouble, and Emile carried Mary down. Eli went and got the food and Emile made sure that they sat far, far from the family of weakness.

“ Do we just sit here and do nothing until they come?” Emile asked and looked at Eli, the goth’s pale face illuminating in the darkness. The face moved with a nod and Emile sank back against the cold cement wall. Damn cement, the basement was freezing.

“After they find that we’re not here, we’ll leave,” Eli stated and Emile exhaled deeply.

“Okay.”

They sat like that for a while, staring into the darkness because they wanted to save the flashlight's batteries. For once, in their strive for survival, Eli brought forth a conversation.

“How would they make a cure with my blood?” He asked and Emile looked to him. The Spaniard thought about it. How would they? “Assuming there’s anyone left to do it,” Eli added.

“ I don’t know. You need elestrones-”

“ Electronics.”

“ Right. Electronics, but there is no electricity in some places.”

Eli gave false consideration and crossed his arms. “They could have generators.”

“ Mm. Right,” Emile thought about it more. “Will Conrad be alright?” he asked and Eli nodded again.

“I think so. I just hope we can get some medicine for Mary,” he replied. Emile thought of something and snorted to himself, shaking his head. Eli looked at him.

“What?”

Emile shook his head again. “It’s nothing, stupid.”

Eli watched Emile in slight wonder but soon dismissed the talk and put his head against the wall behind him. Mary and Conrad lay beside the two on the floor, a blanket over and under them, keeping the two warm from the cement’s chill.

Emile sat thinking of a new discussion and once again, Eli was one to break the silence.

“ Do you believe in ghosts?” he asked, Emile glancing to his glowering face.

Emile shrugged and nodded. “Yes, we all do. Spain, Mexico, we believe in honoring the dead. In all of your American horror movies it’s always a Mexican maid who says the house is haunted,” he said and Eli pressed his lips together in thought.

“ Do you?” Emile asked and Eli shook his head.

“I don’t know.”

Emile wanted to bring up his situation of falling down the stairs but kept quiet when through the silence of the house, they could hear steady footsteps on the ceiling above them. Emile looked at Eli and saw the Goth’s luminescent finger press to his lips in speak for ‘silence’. Emile nodded and swallowed, turning his gaze up to the faint sight of the wooden boards above them.

What an odd ceiling, he thought to himself of the beams that went every other direction.

“Would they come down here if they had flashlights?” he asked Eli in a hushed whisper that only sounded like a foreign breath. Eli’s ghostly face turned to the direction of the stairs.

“...That’s what I was wondering,” he replied.

Emile reached for Conrad’s bulky waist and started searching his pants.

“What are you doing?” Eli could only hear the scavenging.

“We could kill them,” the Spaniard replied and Eli scoffed, shaking his head.

“We don’t know how many there are.”

“ So?”

“ So what if there are five, or six? There are only two of us.”

“ I killed two people.”

Eli made a face in the darkness. “I heard it was one.”

Emile shook his head. “The bullet went out of his head and hit the girl.”

Eli exhaled deeply. They could go up. They could kill the people and take their supplies. It’d be a good win- if it was a success. If it failed, Conrad and Mary would be left down there to rot.

“ Just because you meant to shoot one person and ended up shooting two, it doesn’t mean you can do this,” he stated, the light scuffing of shoes on the basement floor telling him that Emile wasn’t backing down.

The Spaniard turned on the flashlight, it’s light duller than before. He flashed it at Eli to see the goth.

“ People can do a lot for survival,” he stated. How pretty Eli is, he thought. It was a quick thought that anyone would think at seeing that pale face full of emotion for once.

Eli watched as that light lingered for a small, quick moment before being shifted away to the floor as a guide to the stairs.

Once Emile’s hushed feet reached the stairs, he knelt and placed the flashlight on the floor, it’s light shining a way to the stairs for if Eli changed his mind. The basement door was slowly opened, allowing the brief glow of outside sunlight to shine in before Emile slipped out from the basement's safety and shut the door after him.

Emile had grabbed Conrad’s pistol and he also still had his knife from earlier, having recovered it when he almost tripped over the handle while carrying Mary down earlier.

The Spaniard scanned the kitchen area with his dark eyes and exhaled heavily. Voices sounded from the living room and maybe somewhere near the bedrooms. Emile stepped to the kitchen doorway and hid against the corner, peeking into the living room. Three. Three men stood there, looking under the couch’s cushions and in small table drawers. All that was there were some water damaged bills, Eli had stated earlier.

“ Look Jew, candles. Think they’re still good?” One of the men asked and a skinnier one with short cropped brown hair made his way over.

“Maybe. Not those two,” he replied and the first one nodded, black hair. “And my name is  _ Mike. _ ” Jew said, elbowing the noirette.

There was a third, who had some lighter brown hair, and he was kneeling in a corner. The thought of them having weapons had been forgotten from Emile’s mind until he saw a sort of slingshot sticking out of their pants’ pocket. Something shiny also glinted from beside the weapon. Was he the one to hurt Conrad? Eli told Emile something of a shine when Conrad had been hurt.

“ There’s some fresh blood in here!” A voice called from one of the back rooms and the three men all turned to go to it. Emile waited until they were fully out of view before hurrying to a window and looking out. How did they get here? Did they walk? From where?

He looked past the yard and could see someone on the neighboring house’s roof. A metallic glint came from their position and Emile backed away from the glass. Three plus the one on the roof and maybe two in the bedrooms… Six people.

The Spaniard looked back to the kitchen. Eli wasn’t there. Emile didn’t blame him. Thinking about it now, it was like suicide.

_ I need to spread them out. _ He thought. If he didn’t, it’d be like a deer to a pack of wolves.

Emile huffed to himself.  _ What do I do? _

“ It’s a hell of a lot of blood. Maybe the guy Toby hit?” A voice asked and Emile blinked in surprise. It shocked him that they could find that out but he didn’t know why- anyone would be able to find it out.

He was tired and it was probably affecting his thoughts; he couldn’t think anything through. Not that he could before the outbreak anyway.

He shook his head, clearing the cloudy thoughts and going to make his way to the hallway entrance. He paused to listen to the voices. If he couldn’t think right now on how to attack, he could at least listen to them until he  _ could _ think of something.

“ Guys, come in here, there’s more blood!” One called.

Footsteps went after the voice and Emile silently watched as they went from Conrad’s room to Mary’s, where a shadow was already present- the one who called.

“ They have a girl.” A new voice said.

“ How do you know?” Asked another.

“ The blood is here on the bed, where her waist would be; she’s menstruating. It’s not a lot and it stinks in here like old blood.” The first voice said.

“ Well, let’s find her then.” Said another.

All the voices were running together in Emile's native hearing, he couldn't tell whose voice went to who.

Emile stepped back, away from the doorway, and something crunched under his foot. He glanced down and saw some old wallpaper peels, crisped.

“ What was that?” A voice sounded and Emile turned. He bumped into a form and a hand covered his mouth before he could exclaim.

Eli shushed the Spaniard and pulled him along with him away from the doorframe.

“Hide!” he whispered to Emile and the Spaniard nodded, rushing back to the kitchen and looking out after Eli.

Rushing footsteps sounded and Emile was going to call for Eli to come but couldn’t, watched as the goth rose his crossbow that he had probably been holding the entire time and shot, the bolt disappearing into the angle of the hallway’s frame.

A man exclaimed loudly and Eli got another bolt ready, shooting again. A thud sounded, followed by yelling.

“ Kill him!” A man’s voice yelled; the voices were starting to run together.

Eli looked to Emile, backing away from the hallway and readying another bolt. He quickly made a gun motion with a hand and Emile tossed Conrad's gun. Eli caught it and clutched it tight. He flashed the gun in Emile’s direction and the Spaniard dived behind the safety of the kitchen’s archway.

What was Eli doing?

“ Fucking idiot.” Eli hissed, scaring Emile into hiding from his mess so he wouldn't be seen.

He shot twice at the men in Mary’s room. One was already down, a bolt in his thigh and heart. One was hiding in the doorway, and Eli fired the gun again when he peeked out at him. A gunshot rang out that wasn’t Eli’s and a bullet whisked by his head.

He looked in the direction and saw a shadow in Conrad’s room.

Eli swallowed and turned on his heel.

Shit.

He wanted to tell Emile to hide and that he was going to ward them off but he couldn't without calling to him and that would alert the attackers.

Eli ran for the front door and could hear multiple thudding feet after him. He grabbed the doorknob and pulled the door open.

He was too late to see the flash, but a gun shot at his feet from somewhere up high and he cursed, jumping back into the house and shutting the door again.

He glanced behind him and saw the people standing in a group, guns and a slingshot raised at him.

They all seemed to be looking to one with blazing red hair that had grown since the outbreak, showing dark roots. The leader.

Eli watched the man nod and guns started cocking, the slingshot creaking at being pulled back.

Eli looked past them to the kitchen and shook his head lightly to Emile who looked like he was ready to jump in, considering it greatly but too scared- his hands were trembling.

Eli looked back to the leader.

“ Drop your weapons,” the man spoke.

“ No.” If he was going to die for real this time, he wasn't going to give up his crossbow.

“ There's a girl here, right?” the leader asked and Eli shook his head.

“It's just me. Are you going to kill me?” There wasn't any fear in his voice and he wasn't really scared of dying at the moment. He wasn't alone this time.

The leader exhaled deeply. “Yeah. We don't want to, but you killed one of my people. I'll ask again. Do you have a girl here?”

Eli shook his head. “No. It's just me.”

The leader watched him for a moment, looking deep into his face.

“ We don't want to kill her. We're looking for survivors-”

“ You shot my friend in the hand, I wouldn't exactly say you're coming off very friendly.”

The man bit back some words and Eli watched him, unamused.

“ It's a new recruitment, he's done that twice now, third time and he's over. Look,” He raised a hand to his people and eased it down, their weapons following, lowering but staying alert. “We're trying to find women and children. If it's just you, we'll kill you to even out the killing zone. If you have a girl with you, we'll take you in, alright? We have food and water.”

“ Do you have health supplies, medicine?”

Emile couldn't believe Eli's mouth. Was he really considering going with these putos?

“ Plenty.”

“ Come out, Emile,” Eli called, the Spaniard gasping at the sudden words. Members of the group looked over to the sound of Emile's breath and he lost it, yelling out Spanish curses at Eli.

“¡Quieres Conrad y yo a morir!”

“ Whatever you're saying, you're wrong, alright? We just want to help.” One of the men said. Eli was right to have Emile's gun or the Spaniard would be shooting them all down.

“ Emile, shut up! Here's how we do it.” Eli looked to the group. “You all drop  _ your _ weapons, and then we get the others from the basement. That scout on the roof better be long gone before we even get outside or the deal's over and he goes Machete on your asses,” he pointed to Emile, who had calmed to heavy and harsh breathing. The leader considered this for only a moment before laying his own gun down.

“Alright,” he said and his remaining men followed the example.

Eli wasn't sure about this, wasn't even sure of his decision, but he knew that Joseph would do it, good plan or not.


	6. Chapter Five:  I Never Really Knew Her, Did You?

**** Marla was the brains. In classes, she did her work and didn’t question anything. She didn’t talk during lessons, and you’d think that she didn’t have friends, but after school you could see her walking with some faceless girls down the yard.

She first got acquainted with Conrad when, during zero hour History, he asked her to give him answers for five bucks. She hired it to fifteen, and then she was doing his homework three days a week. On the bus ride to the zoo, she was doing his math homework.

She had noticed blue eyes watching her a few times during the trip but she didn’t say anything, kept her eyes on the paperwork. She was close to done when Conrad started talking to her, his voice close to her ear and strained from his gut smashing the back of the seat.

“ How’s it going?” he asked, and she looked at him before flashing her eyes to the side and catching the goth’s blue. His name was Eli, and he was known for his skeleton appearance and raven black hair.

“ I think someone wants to talk to you,” she said and looked back at Conrad with a smile.

He quirked an eyebrow. “Huh?”

“There,” she nodded to Eli and looked back to the paper. Conrad looked at Eli and narrowed his eyes.

“ That’s the goth fag.”

“ Who says he’s a fag?”

“ I don’t know, Jeff and Morris.”

“ Jeff doesn’t use the ‘f’ word,” Marla frowned and flashed Conrad a look. He puffed at her and looked the goth over.

He’s always listening to music, and his clothes are always too big for him. His hair is puffy black, but Conrad has seen it blonde once, if it was the same teen or not.

The goth’s eyes looked at Marla before flicking to Conrad, and they were a sharp, piercing gaze of blue. His pale cheeks stayed colorless but his thin lips twitched and Conrad smirked.

The eyes tore away, looked elsewhere, and Conrad’s smirk turned into a grin. What a loser.

Marla’s phone goes off in her pocket, and she closes the textbook with the paper as a marker and pulls it out. It’s Jeff, asking how the ride is. She and Jeff have known each other since early childhood, but it took until last year for him to ask her out. She’s known Conrad longer than the day at zero hour, but just his name and face. He was Jeff’s friend, all of the jocks were. Jeff was in football with them forever, and after every game, he would take Marla to celebrate with him and the guys at Apple Bee’s, and after that, he would walk her home through the park. He was very romantic, despite his school trouble. He couldn’t join her on the trip because of a fight at school that had him in ISD. It was fairly lonely.

She managed to text him back that it was fine, and then the bus stopped and Joseph spoke up from the front.

l.l

“ Run, Marla! Find Conrad!” Buck struggled against Charmy and Marla swallowed, petrified. Charmy had been bitten on the cheek by some girl that Buck smacked onto the dirt floor, and she hadn’t moved since the blood came from her nose. Now Charmy was biting at Buck’s face and all Marla could do was stare. His eyes look dull and lifeless, but his body moved despite its sickly pale color.

“ Go, Marla!” Buck yelled at her and she looked at him. He was the biggest out of Jeff’s friends and Marla had fed him and Jeff dinner one night when it was storming.

“ _ Now _ !”

Marla’s fingers twitched, her hands down at her sides. She didn’t nod or speak, just turned on her heel and took off running for the light at the end of the exhibit’s tunnel.

Don’t think about it. Don’t think about it and you won’t feel it.

But that girl had bitten Charmy, and he had started vomiting, and then he attacked Buck. What would happen to Buck? What would happen to everyone else?

When she reached outside, there was a girl running to a school bus, but a man racing after her tackled her and she started screaming.

Marla kept running.  _ Find Conrad, find Conrad _ .

There was Mr. Grey- with Emile, the two running to the bus. It was a ways away from Marla, but she could make it.  _ Not without Conrad _ . She looked around.

“ Conrad! Conrad!” She called, looking at all of the violence. There were kids whose names she couldn’t remember at the moment, being attacked and screaming, being  _ killed _ by other nameless kids that could have been their friends.

Would everyone die today?

“ Marla!” Joseph’s English accent sounded and she looked around for him, but didn’t see  him.

“Conrad!” She calls for the jock again

“ Marla, come with me!” A hand grabbed her arm, but she was quick to pull away and look back. It was Joseph, and he gave a quick huff before motioning to her. “Come on, hurry!”

“I have to find Conrad, Buck told me to.” She looked away from him, but he grabbed her.

“ He’s not here- come to the bus! Mr. Grey is trying to gather students!” Joseph pulled her along with him to the bus after Mr. Grey and Emile, but off in the distance she could see a brunette in a letterman, striking someone down: Conrad.

“There he is!” Marla pointed, and Joseph let out another breath.

“ Conrad!” he called the jock, who looked at him from the fallen body, “The bus!” he called again before running with Marla, keeping her with him.

Marla kept her sight on Conrad, watching his eyes flicker to the bus. He spun quick and took off running for it, and then Marla started running with Joseph, matching his speed.

When Marla and Joseph reached the bus, the doors were drawn shut, so Joseph banged on them.

“Mr. Grey, it’s us! Conrad is on his way!” he called.

Mr. Grey opened the doors and Joseph hopped in. He looked back to Marla when she didn’t move.

“Marla, he’s coming,” he panted to her, but she shook her head.

“He’s not,” she replied, looking out at Conrad.

He had stopped and was stomping on someone’s head, Mary sobbing beside him and clutching his arm at the elbow. He had stopped to save her.

“ Conrad, hurry up!” Marla yelled, and Joseph pulled her into the bus.

“Marla, they’ll make it! Get inside and  _ stay _ inside,” he told her and she pressed her lips tight together.

Conrad looked at Mary when she said something to him, and then he looked at the bus. The bus doors had shut and Marla looked at Mr. Grey.

“ Mr. Grey, open the doors,” she looked at his hand that rest on the door’s lever, but he didn’t reply. There was a slam against the door that made her jump, and Joseph pulled her back.

It was someone they didn’t know on the door, clawing and scratching at it, his mouth and fingers bloody, his eyes empty shells; like Charmy’s. Like all of the other Infected.

Did Buck make it?

There were some spanish words spoken, and Marla looked back to see Emile. His face was in his hands and he was muttering things to himself, sitting alone in the bus.

There had to be more survivors. It couldn’t be just them.

Looking out a window, Marla could see Conrad and Mary, the two running for the bus. 

Charmy was still on the doors, and Conrad left Mary to run ahead and he slammed forward, catching the monster in the face with a right hook.

“They’re here, Mr. Grey!” Marla looked at their teacher, but he was hesitant, hand holding the lever tight, keeping the doors shut.

“ Let us in, we aren’t like them!” Conrad yelled against Mary’s crying, but Mr. Grey shook his head.

“That…  _ thing _ could get in!” Mr. Grey breathed, and Conrad stared at him through the door. The jock looked down at the person, who was trying to get up, but he kicked him in the nose, forcing them back into the ground. Conrad started stamping the person’s face into the ground, stomping repeatedly and repeatedly despite Mary’s crying. He did it until their face was bloody and their nose crushed in, until they weren’t moving.

“Now  _ let us the fuck in _ !”

Marla went forward to open the doors, but Mr. Grey saw her and opened them first, pulling the lever. Conrad pushed Mary inside of the bus before getting in himself, when he glared at Mr. Grey. He then turned his attention to Marla.

“Where’s Buck and Charmy?” he asked, but she only shook her head. Her lips moved to speak, but nothing came out and he shook his head.  He spit at the floor and went to flop into a seat.

Mary walked weakly to the back of the bus, where she took a seat and cried.

Marla looked at them all before looking back outside. It looked terrible, like some sort of war. There are animals, actual  _ animals _ attacking people, too; being attacked themselves. There are people trying to help each other, but they got overpowered too easily.

The bus was started, and the wheels began rolling. Marla went to sit with the others, but Joseph stayed up, watching out the windows.

“ ...What… happened?” Marla asked him, but he only shook his head and glanced at Mr. Grey. The teacher didn’t look at him, his eyes staring at the road as he started driving. Joseph turned his gaze back to the windows, and what was outside. Marla looked out the windows too, because no one looked in the mood to talk. She needed someone to try and figure everything out with, but they were all in their own ways, broken.

Mary was bawling her eyes out, because her friends were either dead or left behind. Emile spoke to himself, rocking in his seat, covering his eyes with his hands. Conrad looked like he wanted to kill someone. He probably would. He he already had.

Mr. Grey didn’t look like he knew what to do, sweat dripping down his face from the stress of the situation, and because he was struggling hard to keep his thoughts in order. Joseph didn’t know anything at all and was trying to process things, like Marla. He just wasn’t one to voice his inner self.  He was in Marla’s physics class and she’d  noticed how smart he was; he was considerably smarter than her, probably given his time in England.

Something black moved in Marla’s peripheral and she looked about the outside to see what it was. Someone had just walked out of the cave exhibit, and the more they walked away from it, she realized that it was that goth, Eli. His eyes looked normal; blue, but confused.

Marla looked at Joseph to say something but he had already noticed, pressed against the window and eyes wide. He reached for the door’s lever and pulled it, bending the doors open. He gripped the side bar and thrust himself out into the pressing air, looking outside at Eli.

“Close the door!” Mr. Grey yelled when he looked over at the sound of the lever squeeking, but Joseph couldn’t hear him because of the wind in his ears. Marla stood from her seat.

“ Mr. Grey, stop the bus! There are no people chasing us, it’s okay to let him in-”

“ We let no one else in!” Their teacher cut her words off.

“ Eli, hurry!” Joseph called out and Marla looked out the window. Joseph was reaching out for Eli, but the goth was still too far away. He didn’t advance more than a stumbling walk, his eyes looking around in blank confusion.

“ Eli!” Joseph called again and the goth’s eyes focused a little. He seemed able to see Joseph now, but he didn’t do anything.

“Can he hear you?” Marla leaned against the seat to watch out the window. She tried to opening her window, but it was one of the few that were stuck, and she shook her head. He wouldn’t make it.

“ Eli, take my hand,  _ now _ !”

Eli stumbled forward before breaking into a run and Marla looked at Mr. Grey.

“Mr. Grey, slow the bus down! Let him in- you can’t leave him!”

He ignored her, lips tight and eyes on the road. He wanted no part in it.

Marla looked back out the window and somehow Eli had managed to get closer, but it would be impossible to make it with the speed the bus was going. Joseph leaned further out of the bus and outstretched his whole arm to the goth.

His fingers on the bar slipped and he lunged forward a little, but he managed to grasp it again and Marla shook her head and sat back down. She covered her face. She couldn’t watch- if Eli so much as  _ stumbled _ , he’d be gone.

The goth threw his hand out and his fingers latched onto Joseph’s wrist. Eli’s black nails clawed into Joseph’s flesh and the teacher’s aid breathed sharp but grabbed the goth’s wrist in return and pulled him inside with a guttural grunt.

Eli fell against Joseph onto the floor and they both breathed heavily. Marla looked at them through her fingers and let out a shaky sigh. Mr. Grey slammed the bus doors shut.

“ Are you alright?” Joseph asked Eli and the goth nodded, putting his hands onto Joseph’s chest while breathing quick. He pushed off of the other teenager and stood, holding onto a bus seat for balance. He wiped his hand against his glossy forehead and panted. His eyes flickered to the driver’s seat, checking to see who was in it. When he sees who it was, he looked at the others in the bus.

Mary was still crying but on her phone, Emile was praying with his rosary, and Conrad just sat in bitterness.

Marla looked at Eli and let out a breath. What will he add to the group? What can he do? She’s never really seen him outside of school, and he didn’t do much there.

“ Is everyone okay?” Mr. Grey looked at everyone through his mirror, appearing to be the ‘caring teacher’, but he didn’t do anything when no one spoke.

“ We’re the only ones!” Mary sobbed and Joseph climbed to a standing position, holding up his hands.

“No, no we’re not. Ms. Diana gathered students in her suburban,” he stated and Eli stared at him. 

“ I want off,” the goth murmured, and Joseph looked at him from Mary.

“Wh... What?” He couldn’t process things right and Eli glared at the aid.

“I want off,” he stated again and gripped the seat tighter from where he stood, body suddenly trying to give out on him. Joseph seemed to have been able to process that, because he narrowed his eyes at the goth, blinking in confusion while watching him. Marla didn’t notice, because there was an explosion that went off outside, but she was the only to hear it. She couldn’t find the smoke, though.

Eli shook his head and grunted when he rocked back, pulling himself back straight.

Joseph asked him if he was okay, and Marla glanced over at the words. Why was he asking that?

He asked again, and Eli told him to shut up. Marla narrowed her eyes while looking him over. He looked clammy and ill, and Joseph had him in his hold. Was it a mistake to let him in? One wrong move and everything goes to pieces.

“ You’re bleeding? You were bit?”

Joseph was looking at his bloody fingers, and Marla looked back in the bus when there are shifting seats.

Everyone seemed to be  murmuring, asking if he had been bitten, and when Eli’s eyes rolled back and his body slumped in Joseph’s arms, Marla got up from her seat.

“ Lay him down, hurry,” Marla spoke and went to the two when Joseph laid Eli down on the bus floor. She dropped to her knees and started pressing her hands against Eli’s torso, feeling him. Through the jutting ribs and hipbones, she felt a spot through his shirt that wasn’t as firm as the rest of his skin, and made her fingers wet. It was just under his rib cage on his right side.

“W-what is it?” Joseph asked her while she looked at her fingers, wet with blood.

“It’s here,” she gripped Eli’s shirt and lifted it up, pulling it up his chest to his neck so that she could overlook his torso.

There was a bite where she felt it, under his ribcage that showed each individual bone. It was a deep bite, with some flesh missing from the top where the front cutter teeth had marks left behind. Eli’s pale flesh was covered in sticky red, and the wound seemed to be slowing its blood flow. He had passed out, but it wasn’t because of blood loss.

Marla glanced up at Joseph, whose brown eyes were on the wound. He seemed to sense her gaze, because he looked at her after a brief moment, and she stared at him. She didn’t speak, but looking in her green-hazel eyes, Joseph could tell that Eli was infected.

“What’s wrong with him?” Mary called out in a sob, and Marla didn’t have to try answering.

“He’s just passed out, it’s not his blood,” Joseph was quick to reply. He pulled Eli’s shirt down over the wound, and Mary watched him the whole time. She swallowed and wiped her fingers on her pants.

l.l

The group that had taken in Eli and Emile was led by a guy named Jakob. Eli had killed their field medic, Oliver. Now Eli knew their names.

George was the second in command, and an asshole. He had black hair that he may have chopped himself, and he goes by most, as Gore. Mike was their planner. Jewish, with brown hair that also didn’t look to be cut too good, with curls growing back in. Edie was the one with the slingshot, and light brown hair. Apparently, he’s deaf in one ear. Toby was the one who hurt Conrad. He was the sharpshooter of them, and basically lives on rooftops. He is, as Jakob said, new. He also has black hair, and he hangs alone.

Eli was stuck with the asshole George.

Since Oliver had died, his body was brought back and there was to be a funeral. Eli wasn’t welcome because he had dealt the blows, and Emile didn’t trust the people yet, so he was with Mary in Recovery. Eli wasn’t allowed there, either.

The goth sat with his arms crossed, slouching in his seat at the table that George sat on, cleaning his fingernails with a field knife.

They had been stuck in silence for a long while, so when George finally spoke, it sounded funny to Eli.

“You’re in big trouble, you know that?” he said, glancing at Eli with his eyes when the goth snorted. “You know why? Huh?” George asked again, but Eli didn’t look at him. His blue eyes were on the table in front of him, on a stain.

“Huh?” George sounded again, but Eli didn’t acknowledge him. The noirette hit the table hard, and Eli crossed his legs underneath the tabletop.

George sneered and shook his head, slipping his knife into its case on his belt.

“You killed Jakob’s cousin, you know that? How are you gonna make up for that, huh?” he asked, keeping his dark brown eyes on Eli. Eli still didn’t look at him, or speak.

For being his cousin, Jacob didn’t seem too distraught at the time.

The goth exhaled through his nose and finally looked up to the man. He looked mean. He must work out frequently, maybe a runner, maybe some weights, because his arms looked thick in his long sleeved attire, but his waist looked lean. He looked like he may have been to juvie a few times, depending on how old he was. He looked nineteen, but Eli guessed that he was maybe a year younger, because he was an asshole.

“I want to see Conrad,” Eli said, and George’s expression didn’t change.

“You don’t get things.”

“I agreed to come here for rights. I feel like a captive.”

“Maybe you are one. Nobody said anything about you getting rights, here.”

Eli let out a long breath before uncrossing his arms and legs and standing from his seat. He started walking to the door that would let him out of the room, but George was quick to jump up from the table and rush after him. He grabbed Eli before the teen could touch the doorknob, and he pulled him back against his chest, putting him in a headlock.

“I doubt you of all people really care about anyone here dying,” Eli spat and grabbed George’s arm that was around him. “You just want an excuse to bully someone, am I right?” the goth winced when George tightened his hold.

“Go ahead, I’ve had worse.”

“...You don’t know anything.” George held Eli for a moment before releasing him, pushing him away. He moved to stand in front of the door, and he pointed to the table.

“Go and sit back down.”

l.l

“She looks to be doing good now, we just have to keep her hooked up to this IV and give her some antibiotics, and then she’ll be good within… a week. Give or take,” Nancy, one of the medics, said to Emile. The Spaniard nodded.

“Thank you.” He looked at Mary from where he sat next to her bed on a stool.

The haven that Jakob built was a first floor health clinic. It was where the wounded and the fighters stayed, while the healthy stayed in the town hall just a block away. The whole town was under Jakob’s control. Toby had seen them enter.

“Do you want to see your other friend, Emile?” Nancy asked, and Emile gave an unsure nod. He wasn’t one for too much blood, and last he knew, Conrad had needed stitches.

Nancy saw this and laughed but motioned anyway. “Come on.”

Since Mary was still out, Emile stood and followed Nancy.

“How do you know how to fix people?” he asked.

“You mean, like, medicines and stuff?”

“Ah, yes.”

“My older sister Drew. This was her clinic before everything happened, and she showed me a few things. She works in the clinic’s other wing. Do you have any family?” Nancy looked back at Emile, who blinked and motioned a little with his hand.

“Uh… is she all you have? Do you have a mother, or father?”

“No, Nancy raised me and Jakob. Jakob’s my older brother- the guy with the red hair?” Nancy pointed at her hair, and Emile gave a slow nod.

_ Oh hambre. _

“I… thought there were no more people,” Emile spoke, and Nancy gave a light shrug.

“Well, it probably should be that way. A lot of the people we have with us were just wanderers, or people we knew from town. The virus didn’t really hit this town too hard. Or, we at least stopped it before it spread too much. My brother’s always been a leader, so it kind of happened fast, him helping everyone out.”

“I hear your cousin died.” Emile peeked at her, and she gave a small nod, looking down the hallway.

“Yeah.”

“I am sorry.”

“It’s alright. He worked on the field a lot with my brother, so I never really got to see him much. I was supposed to go to his funeral, but I thought I would stay and help you with your friends.”

“Oh, that is sweet.”

“It’s nothing,” Nancy looked at Emile and smiled. Her hair was blonde like Mary’s, but her eyes were brown, light like a mexican toffee. Her smile was pretty, and it made Emile smile, too.

Conrad was in the other wing, where Drew worked, but she was gone at the funeral. As Emile looked around, he found that the section was only men.

“Ehh… Nancy, where are the women?” he asked, glancing to her while she walked to a sleeping man, pulling his blanket further onto his body.

“Oh, well, we keep them sectioned off. The men are in the east wing, this one, while the women stay in the south, with me. It’s a safety measure, really,” Nancy replied without looking at him, patting the man’s chest softly.

Emile dismissed the thought when it was too difficult to dwell on, and looked around at the beds for Conrad. He found him after a moment, eyes closed and covered up, hooked up to both an IV and a blood pack.

The spaniard made his way to him, where he perched on the edge of the bed. Nancy came over after a moment and put her hand to Conrad’s forehead.

“He’s still a little warm, but he should be okay by tomorrow,” Nancy looked at Conrad’s wound, touching the skin around it lightly. The fishing wire that Eli had used was replaced with real stitches, and Nancy grabbed a bandage pad to place over them, as her sister had forgotten to in her rush to the funeral.

“Nancy, where will  _ we _ stay?” Emile asked.

“Well, people are welcome to stay in any houses in the town, but my brother will send people out to check on them, to make sure no one’s infected. People just prefer staying in the town hall, though, because there are too many children to try protecting outside. Since not a lot of people know how to defend themselves.”

“Well, do you think it is hard staying out there?”

“I stay here with my sister. As far as I know, there are only three houses outside that our people occupy. The others all stay here or in the hall, with my brother.”


	7. Chapter Six: Close Your Eyes, Shut Out the World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group learn something rather unsettling about the new safe haven they've been welcomed to, and Mary will have to make a decision she had never imagined.

Eli looked at Conrad’s sleeping form, hands in his dark sweater’s pockets, because he had been rid of his crossbow for the time being.

Conrad was stable and just resting, sleeping- the same as Mary. Eli had already visited Mary, but he hadn’t seen Emile just yet. George had been given orders to let Eli see the wounded, but Emile was elsewhere, where the goth wasn’t trusted enough to go yet.

Eli turned to George after a minute of looking at Conrad’s unconscious form and nodded towards the entry way.

“I’m done,” he said. “I was told there were showers here.”

George snorted. “Sure there are, but you haven’t talked to Jakob yet. He wants to have a… discussion with you after the funeral. Which is almost over.”

Eli blinked his dark eyes at George and gave a breath through his nose.

“So? Where’s Emile?” he asked flatly.

“Elsewhere. You wanted to see your friends, now we go back to the room.”

“Emile’s my friend. I haven’t seen him around.”

“He wasn’t in the deal.”

“The _deal_ , was that we would come here. If he’s being treated like me, I have complaints.” Eli walked passed George and the bigger noirette followed after him, closely.

“I’m not the one wanting to listen to your rants, so just shut the hell up and walk pretty.”

Eli glanced back at the adult and scowled. “I don’t _walk pretty_. We’re going to be getting out of here if you don’t shut _your_ fucking mouth.”

“You think you're intimidating? You're not, kiddo.”

“Neither are you, fatty.”

The door opened before anything more could be said or done, and Mike stepped inside, his hands in his brown coat pockets.

“What?” George asked, shoving passed Eli so that he wouldn’t be behind him. Mike gave a single shouldered shrug and nodded to the door.

“The service is over; Jakob told me to get you guys. It’s Eliot, right?” Mike looked at Eli and the goth scoffed.

“No, just Eli. Why?”

George shoved Eli back with his elbow and Mike sighed, but he didn’t do anything besides motion. “Come on,” he said and turned to the doors, walking out with Eli and George after him as the goth was forced to follow.

They turned down a corridor on the right, where there looked to be construction on a wall that hadn’t been finished since the outbreak. From there, they walked further down another corridor before going through some double doors- the same path back to the “interrogation room” where Eli had been earlier.

He always needed help getting to places, but once he was there, he could get there time and time again on his own- it was something that he learned to do as a kid; memorize things. Especially after his brother.

George shoved Eli into the room once they were there, and the goth immediately turned, hitting him with a right hook that made him lose his balance just a slight, but he quickly regained himself and almost attacked Eli but he held back when Mike called out for them to stop.

Looking at Mike, George scowled. “This fucking punk is _really_ getting on my nerves.”

“Then go and pay your respects for Oliver,” Jakob sounded, walking to the table from where he was probably leaning against a wall. He had a cup of water, which he put on the table top. George didn’t move, shutting his mouth and clenching his jaw. Mike glanced over at Jakob, who motioned a hand for Eli. “Come and sit down, have some water,” he said, but the goth didn’t move.

Mike tapped George’s elbow and slipped passed him to open the room’s door, holding it open for the other man. Once George finally gave in, leaving with a huff, the brunette followed and shut the door after; leaving Eli alone with Jakob, to which the man motioned again for the goth.

“Come on, drink some water.”

“You can drink it first,” Eli replied, crossing his arms and watching the redhead with dark, narrowed eyes. Jakob was tall, so he dipped down just a little to the side to grab the water before picking it up and walking over to Eli. The goth didn’t move or soften his gaze, just watched the man as he approached in caution.

What the hell is wrong with these people?

Jakob stopped just in front of Eli and brought the glass up to his mouth, taking a sip passed his dark lips. Eli watched the man’s throat bob, making sure that he _did_ drink it, and then the redhead pulled the glass away and wiped his mouth with the hood of his hand, gloved until the fingers.

“Ah. Purified water.” He held the glass out to Eli, who took it and started drinking.

It wasn’t cold, which would have let it slide down easier, but it really was purified and drinking it made him feel a little more awake. Finishing the glass, Eli almost choked on the last drink but kept it a tickle in his throat and looked up at the other leader.

The goth cleared his throat. “So what is it you want?”

“Well, you seem like a reasonable person. I want to reason with you. Can we sit? It’d make this easier.” Jakob took the empty glass from Eli and nodded to the table, an amused smile on his face that Eli hated. Regardless, the teen pushed passed the man to walk to the table, where he plopped down into a seat.

“Alright. What?” He looked at Jakob.

l.l

Walking with Nancy through the sick and wounded, Emile couldn't help but feel uncomfortable. They were all asleep and lying in bed, no chairs at their sides for visitors and no one even _there_. There was no one in the room that wasn’t sick, which could be associated with some sort of quarantine. The thing that was even _more_ uncomfortable though, was that Nancy was letting Emile in there with her. What if he got sick? _But_ there’s something even weirder. None of the people were women. Yeah, there were kids and preteens, but there were no _women_. No one above the age of, probably fifteen.

If so many people were ill or hurt, women would also be included, but where were they?

“Nancy,” he spoke, looking to his side at the pretty blonde. She looked at him and smiled.

“Yeah?”

“Eh, where are the rest of them?”

“Rest of who?”

“The sick, this can’t be all.”

“Oh, that. We have another sick bay for women and teenagers because they need more care.”

l.l

“You don’t want to agree, I know-”

“Who the hell would agree to that? What if your safe haven gets attacked? How will you save your people then? You haven’t really planned this thing out all of the way, have you?” Eli was standing up now, shaking his head at Jakob who watched him in indifference.

“Don’t you want a chance to make the world right again? It all comes down to one thing, Eli. Are we going to die off, or are we going to adapt?”

l.l

“What sort of care? Children are the ones who need to most care, but I see plenty of boys in here,” Emile said softly in confusion, watching Nancy as she looked around the room- almost like she was avoiding him.

“Well… Usually the saying is: Women and children first. My brother has this new idea though, of-”

l.l

“Women _with_ children first. I’m not religious and you probably aren’t either, but it’s all like Noah and his arc! You build a haven and branch life off of it- some are lost in the process but that’s just-”

“Collateral damage.”

“ _Precisely_ , Eli- now you’re getting it.”

Eli scowled while shaking his head, glaring at the redhead who sat calmly.

“What the fuck do you want from us? Is that why you let us in? Because of Mary? You want to use her in your sick ideals.”

This made Jakob stand up, the man sighing and walking over to Eli; only stopping when there was no gap between the two. “She’s menstruating, that means that she is able to conceive and help us. And you know, I’ve always liked the idea of “an ear for an ear”. You killed my cousin, our field medic. I think you owe me a life in return.” Reaching a hand up, the redhead touched Eli’s cheek, brushing his fingers over the goth’s soft, pale skin to his hair, where he grabbed some to put behind the noirette’s ear. “She doesn’t have to keep the baby. You can leave it here with us and your group can go on their way again. But how hard is it out there? Scavanging for resources growing thinner by the minute, bathing in dirty lakes and lacking the feel of _real human touch_ -”

Eli slapped the man’s hand away, scowling at him. _“Don’t touch me.”_

It made Jakob laugh, the man dropping his hand to his side. “You know, it’s really a shame you’re a guy. You’re so feisty you’d have some good offspring. It kinda makes you… desirable. Or...” he dropped his brown-eyed gaze from Eli’s face to his body, the goth’s chest moving with quick and heavy breaths. “Are you...”

“I take it that you aren’t going to let us leave, are you?”

“No.” Jakob turned from Eli, walking back to the table to sit on it. “Don’t you want to put an end to this? How many people have you lost to those… _things_?”

“ _Run, run, run!” Mr. Grey ran behind them, grabbing the door to slam it shut behind him once he was in but just as soon as he grabbed the doorknob: he was gone._

“ _Marla?” Eli’s voice echoed in the darkness, the teen holding out his hands to feel for what he couldn’t see. “_ I’m here!” She called, her voice bouncing around the room. Then the floor fell in and Eli fell, his head cracking against the cement floor below. When he opened his eyes, his hazy vision finally cleared to Marla lying dead beside him, blood splattered on her face and her skin pale- a Dog eating her stomach.

_Eli could hear Joseph calling his name, shouting “Where is he? Does anyone see him?” They had left him in the generator room, forgotten him when they took off running from the Dogs._

Joseph.

“She can pick who she sleeps with, we aren’t forcing that on her. But it has to be someone strong, who has good genes. Probably that big guy you guys brought in, Carson?”

“Conrad.” Eli crossed his arms, looking at the door of the room. Then he rolled his gaze back to Jakob. ‘How many women have you gotten pregnant? How many women do this _willingly_ , because Mary’s going to absolutely fight.”

Jakob smiled. “I have four kids, another on the way. And there isn’t a single woman here who’s against the idea of repopulation. My cousin you killed, Oliver; he has a daughter and his girlfriend is pregnant again. You broke a family, you know.”

Eli didn’t say anything, just watched Jakob as he smiled at him. “That leaves room for us to break your Mary.”

l.l

“So… your brother wants to make his own… civilization?” Emile asked Nancy, the blonde walking him out of the sick bay. She twisted her lips and shrugged.

“Well, that’s certainly a way to say it.”

“Does that mean you’ll do it too?”

Nancy laughed. “No, I can’t- not that I want to. I was born with this problem so I just… can’t.”

“...Oh. I’m sorry.”

“You’d be a good gentleman if the world wasn’t like this,” the blonde said, looking at Emile while walking.

_He was reaching over his seat to where Mary sat, his slim brown fingers grabbing at the red ribbon that tied her hair up in an attempt to undo it._

_"Puta." The uttered word made Mary snap her attention to the Spaniard._

_Mary looked back to Emile, waiting for some word of courage for the two but got none._

“Erm.. I’m probably the last person to be a gentleman,” the spaniard mumbled, rubbing his neck as he grimaced at the memories. Nancy reached out and touched the teen’s arm, offering a smile to him.

“Well, you are right now. Come on, dinner’s in the cafeteria.”

Walking to the cafeteria, there were many people that walked by but who didn’t look at them- like they didn’t notice that Emile was a new face. Did they really have that many people? To not notice strangers?

Nancy walked Emile to a table where there were a few pots of what looked like soup, and some plates of bread. Grabbing a bowl, Nancy got some soup into it and grabbed a bread roll before looking at Emile. When he didn’t get his own, she giggled and handed him the bowl before making another.

“We trust each other enough to get out own rations, so don’t worry about someone chewing your head off,” she said.

Emile cleared his throat, looking around at the generally full cafeteria. “Um, you said before that everyone stays at the town hall; why are so many people here?”

Nancy followed his gaze, humming. “These are the weak. All of our guards and the well people are at the town hall, and we keep the medics and weak here. A lot of people have poor immune systems, or they’re crippled from traveling and stuff before finding us. You know, the weak.”

“…Then why are all of the guards at the town hall?”

“We have a lock down system for the hospital that we can put in place. Come on, lets go and eat.”

The soup was bland and the potatoes in it not cooked completely through. It was alright, but the lack of really _anything_ in his soup made Emile question if they were running out of food. He had two potato pieces and a few canned carrots- that was all. The rest was tasteless water. Nancy was looking off while eating and Emile noticed a child watching him, the bowl in front of the boy empty. Emile placed his own soup bowl into the child’s and he began eating it, smiling at Emile.

He wondered how the town hall was fairing. Did they have enough food for their people? Were they and the hospital even communicating? They must be if they’ve been around this long but… something was just _off_. Like… an impending doom.

Looking up from the table, Emile saw Eli walking in the entrance, Jakob behind him. Seeing Eli made Emile happy because at lease _someone_ was here that he knew, but the goth didn’t look alright and it made the spaniard’s mood drop some.

Standing up, Emile told Nancy that he’d be back before hurrying over to Eli. “Eli-”

Eli walked passed Emile, whispering “bathroom” into his ear as he passed; Jakob close behind him. Looking at Emile, Jakob paused and looked at him.

“...Ah, you’re the one who didn’t want to come. Like it here?” the redhead asked, putting his hands in his pockets. Emile nodded, eyebrows knit together in confusion.

“...Yes, it’s nice here.”

“Good. I hope you continue liking it here.” With that, Jakob left with Eli, the two sitting at a table near a loud group. Emile blinked and shook his head before walking back to Nancy, the blonde smiling at him when he came back.

“Hey, where’d you go?” she asked, tilting her head with her hair falling from a shoulder. Emile cleared his throat, pointing off.

“Where’s the bathroom? I couldn’t find it.”

“Haha oh, it’s over there to the right,” Nancy pointed to a hall and Emile nodded before smiling at her.

“Thanks.” Getting up, he walked to the bathroom, sparing a single glance back to see if Eli was on his way, too. Nancy was talking to a kid who had come up to her with a type of drawing and beyond that, Eli was watching Emile from Jakob’s table, unmoving from his position.

He was waiting for Emile to go first! The spaniard kept on to the bathroom, going inside and shutting himself inside of a stall to wait for Eli.

A few minutes of waiting later and Eli came inside, looking at Emile through a crack of the stall door.

“Let me in,” he said, stepping inside when he heard Emile slide the lock open.

It wasn’t too tight of a fit with them both in there, Eli taking the privilege to sit on the toilet with an exhale.

“We’ve got a problem,” he said, sitting back and looking up at Emile. The spaniard raised an eyebrow.

“Of what?”

“They want Mary to have kids for them and they won’t let us leave until she does.”

“...What?”

“They pick up girls and make them reproduce. We’re stuck here until she has a fucking baby for them.”

“But what if she doesn’t? Or can’t?”

“...I don’t know. But we’ve got to get out of here.”

Emile groaned and dragged a hand down his face. “Well, Nancy said that they let people stay where they want- we can probably stay in that house we were in before, but they’ll send guards to check on us every so often.”

“Then I guess we’ll have to sneak out of there once we get Mary and Conrad out of the bays.”

l.l

Mary opened her eyes, looking around. Her sight was fuzzy, slowly gaining a crisp as she came to her senses. The ceiling was white and the room smelled different, like a distant memory. Was she… where is she? Was that whole thing a dream?

Sitting up, she was pushed back down by a brunette woman who stood over her.

“You’re awake, good. Try not to move, I don’t want you tugging your IV.”

“...My...IV?”

The woman hummed. “Yes; you’re sick with a bad fever but your vitals seem to be fine. Do you remember who you were staying with?”

_Joseph suddenly stopped running and Mary skidded in the leaves to look back at him. “Go without me. I’ll be at the bridge by the time you all reach it.”_

“ _All humans have flaws and him saving us was his. But at least he did,” Conrad murmured heartily._

“ _You’re choking him!” Mary cried and Joseph grit his teeth while wiping Eli’s face clean, Conrad helping him._

“ _We’re trying to save him!” the jock barked and Mary sobbed, Emile grabbing her to comfort the both of them._

“ _I’ll sit in the back. I know how to take care of her,” he stated, Eli watching him before nodding and heading to the front, climbing into the passenger’s seat. Emile climbed into the back with Mary, grabbing her legs and draping them over his lap.. She stirred and moaned in her sleep._

“ _He could be immune!” Marla shrieked, the shovel’s spade coming down fast for Eli's head._

“...Yes, I remember.”

“Good. I have a question for you, then.”


	8. Chapter Seven: Immunity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eli and Emile are sent to hunt an untouched, unravaged, probably unsafe part of town with Jakob and his crew, and something goes inevitably wrong.

**Chapter Seven:**

**Immunity**

  


Eli scrubbed Oliver’s blood from the wooden floor, the liquid having dried and soaked into the rotting floor. While he did that, Emile washed Mary’s blood stained sheets; so that no dogs in town would smell it.

They were allowed to stay in the shelter they had found, completely untouched since they had left to the hospital. Under the condition that they would help hunt each afternoon and that they would undergo infection checks. They hadn’t been conducted yet, or they would know that Eli has two healed bite scars.

Emile rung out the sheets in the bathroom’s tub where he had a bucket of water from the hospital, draping them over the shower rack to dry before dropping his wet hands to his sides and sighing.

Jakob let he and Eli leave, but Conrad and Mary had to stay because a: Conrad could get infection and b: Mary _had_ an infection. It was a small bacterial infection that they had antibiotics for, but she still had to stay behind and rest, leaving Emile with… Eli. The spaniard wasn’t too close to Joseph or anything, but he would rather have him here than Eli.

Turning from the laundry, Emile left to the living room of the house, where he started taking their things and putting them away; food, aid, coats. Eli had taken his crossbow with him when he got it back, so Emile didn’t have to worry about confronting him to hand it to him. He did, on the other hand, have to figure out how exactly to hunt. Something about dogs scared him: you can get infected, which means you have to get killed. You can get torn to pieces, which means that you’ll die in agony.

Hunting humans, though, was just a little easier. They were predictable. You couldn’t get infected fighting them. You could generally run away from them when ambushed. Was that why the raiders did what they did? To Joseph? ...He could have outrun them. Mary didn’t see what they did to him.

Emile and Eli were opposites. Emile would do what he needed to survive, Eli would find a way around it. Emile didn’t want to grow close to the group because it was a handful, Eli sort of held the group together and willed them on. Emile was more comfortable with the idea of fighting humans, while Eli had a passion for dogs. Emile didn’t cry over the idea of death, but Eli was mortified of it.

“What do you think?” Eli’s voice sounded and Emile looked up from where he knelt on the ground, folding a coat. The spaniard blinked and cleared his throat.

“Huh?”

Eli sighed, rolling his eyes that he seemed to have applied fresh eyeliner to. “I said “It’s near dinner time, should we eat or not”.”

“...Oh.” Emile dropped his gaze to the floor to think. He recalled what food they had to work with- Green Beans: two cans. Bread: half a loaf. Fruit Loops: Half a box. Cooking Milk: two small cans. Mixed Vegetables: two cans. Purified Water: one bottle. “Maybe we should preserve.”

Eli shrugged because he was alright with starving, had been for years. He wasn’t trying to starve himself or anything, but he just never felt hungry. Food had no real appeal to him.

“Let’s get to bed then and rest up for tomorrow,” he said, turning away from Emile and stalking off to the bedrooms. Emile nodded softly despite the goth turning his attention away. He stood from his kneeling position and walked to the couch, sitting on it and looking at the wall in front of him, staring at it.

There was really nothing to do in an epidemic like this. There was no music, there was no one to really talk to, there was nothing to read or paper to draw on, and there was most certainly no television. No, the only thing you could really do was think, and that led to memories of family and friends, to people that had been lost; to what life could have/should have been. And the only thing to do to _not_ think was work. Or sleep, but then you had to try and clear your mind to do that, and that usually led to endless tossing and turning until the sun was coming up.

“Mierda.”

l.l

“ _You’re nothing like your brother, you know that?”_

Eli rolled in bed, his eyes shut tight.

“ _Look at your fucking grades! Look at this! Look at you! Why the hell are you dressing like that?”_

He kicked off his blanket, putting an arm over his face as he lay on his side.

“ _Do you even miss him? Look at what he’s done for this family- why can’t you be like him? Why can’t you show some_ humility _, Eli?”_

“ _Why did this happen to him? Why can’t you make up for it, huh? Why don’t you at least_ try _with things? You’ve ruined our family-”_

He groaned in his sleep, furrowing his eyebrows.

“ _You’ve torn us all apart-”_

He mumbled something in his sleep, burying his face into his pillow.

“ _You’ll never be anything like him-”_

He rolled onto his back, putting his arm over his eyes.

“Why wasn’t it you?” The voice in his dream spoke, clear as day beside him and he woke up, sitting up in bed and looking around with narrowed eyes.

The room was empty and dark, too dark to see much of anything. Scowling at the darkness, Eli looked around again before feeling the bed beside him, the mattress cold and empty. Just then, something warm dropped down on the goth’s hand and he brought it to his lap to wipe at the drop with his other hand. It was too dark to see what exactly it was, but when a couple more drops fell, the teen brought his hand up to his face. There was warmth dripping from his nose and he cursed, holding his hand under his nose and getting out of bed to leave the room in search of light.

He had left Emile’s flashlight in the kitchen before the attack with Jakob’s men, so he went there and grabbed it from the kitchen counter before leaving to the bathroom and turning it on, shutting the door behind him. He could taste the blood now and he cringed at the metallic flavor while walking to the mirror, bringing up the flashlight to look at himself.

The blood was black in the darkness of the night, running down his mouth and chin to his hand- a lot. He spat out some blood from his mouth before turning to the bathtub and plunging his bloody hand into the bucket of water, swashing it clean so that he could start washing away the blood from his face. The water was dirty and clouded with fresh and old blood so it didn’t do too much, but it softened the mess on his face enough for him to wipe it clean with his dark shirt.

When he pulled his shirt away from his nose, it had new blood on it so he groaned and cursed more to himself before tilting his head back and sniffling, trying to clear the blood away.

How the hell did that even happen?

“Eli?”

Eli stirred, his head rolling to the side.

“Eli, you okay? Come on, wake up.”

The goth opened his eyes, squinting at morning light that shone in through the bathroom window.

“...What?” He tried getting up on his own but Emile helped him, grabbing the goth’s thin forearm and pulling him up.

“You slept in here? Why?” Emile asked, quirking an eyebrow, dumbfounded. Eli looked around the bathroom, slowly waking up.

“...I...” he couldn’t think of an answer, or even a lie. Emile didn’t seem to dwell on it too long, because he motioned off passed Eli, to the bathroom door.

“Well, they’re here. For us to hunt with them.”

“Why the hell are they starting _now_?” Eli muttered, looking at himself in the bathroom mirror. His face looked clean; pale, but alright. Maybe he just sleepwalked last night.

“I think they’re running out of food,” Emile stated, watching his goth companion. Eli glared at his reflection, scoffing before looking at Emile through the mirror.

“They wouldn’t if they controlled their numbers. I mean, a new civilization? There will _never_ be enough food for that- not with those… _things_ roaming around.”

Emile gave a light shrug. “It’s a nice thought though, isn’t it? It’s like America. “All the streets are gold there”. ...Look what’s happened to America.”

“...” Emile had a point. It was a good slogan, but that’s all it was. A comfort food for the poor. Turning from the sink, Eli stepped to Emile. “Let’s go, then.”

Eli followed Emile out of the room, the two grabbing their weapons and a change of clothes. Before dressing, they walked back to the bathroom to clean their bodies of their scents, sitting quietly while scrubbing their skin.

Eli always seemed to go a little extra, working his skin pink and raw.

“ _You’re bleeding,” Joseph grabbed Eli by the shoulder, looking at him with concern. The goth blinked and looked at the brunette, narrowing his eyes._

“ _What?”_

“ _There, you’re bleeding.” Joseph touched lightly over Eli’s left forearm, where the skin had been scrubbed so raw it looked like a rash. Eli pulled his arm away, hiding it in his lap._

_There was a moment of silence between the two, Joseph watching Eli for an explanation. And after a while, Eli surprisingly gave it._

“ _...I don’t want to die. You weren’t there with… me and Marla,” the goth said quietly, his voice soft as he looked at the floor. No, Joseph wasn’t there- hadn’t seen what happened, but he could see that Eli still had fresh bruises and scrapes on his back from his fall._

“ _You’ll be fine, Eli. You’re… immune. If any of us survive, it’s gonna be you.”_

“ _It could smell us. From so far away. It didn’t have any eyes, it…_ smelled _us.”_

_Putting a hand on Eli’s shoulder, Joseph peered at the goth, exhaling. “If you have to do that, then do it like this,” he tapped Eli’s arm, where it was only pink and sore, not broken. “Then it won’t scar.”_

Knock knock knock.

Eli looked at Emile, who just raised a hand and stood. “I’ll get it, it’s probably them.” With that, he left the bathroom, leaving Eli alone. The goth looked down at himself.

Bringing the rag to his bare thigh, he started scrubbing it clean.

“Emile, right?” Jakob asked. Emile nodded.

“Yes.”

“Good, you’re ready. And Eli?” The leader stepped passed Emile into the house, the spaniard backing out of the way as Jakob’s team followed him.

Emile huffed, turning from the front door to walk to the bathroom. George sat on the couch, making himself at home, while Mike and Edie just looked around. Edie seemed to give off Eli vibes, like he was good at being condescending. Emile walked Jakob to the bathroom.

Hearing footsteps approach, Eli decided that he really hated Jakob and his team, so he didn’t look over and just kept scrubbing his body clean.

As Jakob came to the bathroom, he took to leaning against the sink and looking at Eli.

“I was gonna ask if you’re ready, but now I’ve just got to ask: what are you doing?” He spoke, watching the goth with his dark eyes.

“Cleaning,” Emile stated as he took a seat on the toilet, lid down. “Don’t you?”

Jakob furrowed his eyebrows. “…Why?”

“So that the Dogs can’t smell us,” Eli said, dropping the rag into the tub and standing up to redress. Jakob suddenly pointed at Eli’s torso, pushing off of the sink.

“What are those?” he asked, Emile looking over and Eli looking down at himself.

His scars- from the Dogs. The fresh scar on his ribs from the attack in the generator room, and the bite scar on his side from the first of the outbreak.

“Scars,” Eli answered, quickly pulling his shirt on to hide them. Then he started pulling on his pants, but Jakob stepped forward, a little too close to Eli. Emile stood up.

“From what? Show me them, _now_.”

“They’re just scars from hunting- there’s nothing wrong with them,” Emile stated, stepping to the two and putting an arm between Eli and Jakob.

“Are you infected?” Jakob asked, ignoring Emile. Eli exhaled deeply, dropping his pants that he had one foot in, because now he had two people too close to him, closing up his space.

“No. I would have turned by now, wouldn’t I? If they _were_ Dog bites. They’re from some raiders a while back, thought they could make a meal of me,” the goth stated, crossing his arms. Emile’s mouth fell slightly agape at the outrageous lie, but he didn’t say anything, hoping that it was good enough for Jakob. Then Jakob looked at him.

“Is that true?”

Damn, way to stay out of the spotlight. “Yes,” Emile answered, motioning slightly to Eli. “They put him down, but I killed them first. They also were going to attack Mary.” He used the group that attacked he and Mary for his lie, because it was a little true. A little.

“...Put him down?” Jakob asked.

“Drugged- he’s not that good at English,” Eli answered, giving Emile a look, who didn’t notice because he was currently putting that word in his memory box for later.

Jakob eyed them both for a moment before shaking his head and stepping back.

“Alight. Let’s hurry before noon, the people are hungry.”

Eli rolled his dark eyes and bent over, grabbing his pants again to finish pulling them on. Emile backed up to give Eli space, checking himself to make sure that he still had his gun and knife.

When they were done, Jakob led the two to his group, George getting up from the couch at their arrival. Once he saw Eli, he scoffed and rolled his eyes, but he didn’t say anything. Eli looked at Jakob.

“Where are we going?” he asked.

“Down east of the town,” Mike answered, “We haven’t been there yet.”

“Why not?” the goth asked again, eyeing the crew. If they’ve been settled for this long and haven’t searched the whole of the town, there was a reason.

Jakob shrugged, walking to the front door. “We didn’t care to.”

From the way Mike watched Jakob, Eli could tell that it was a lie, and that the field planner looked a little worried. The worry was diminished, though, when George tossed an arm over the young adult’s shoulders.

“Come on, we ain’t got all day,” he said.

They had to walk there, which wasn’t too bad because the town wasn’t necessarily big, but it was annoying because Jakob and George kept talking to each other.

“Your sister’s been hanging around that mexican a lot,” George said.

“Nancy?”

“Yeah. Ain’t that right?” George looked at Emile, who quirked an eyebrow.

“...What?” the spaniard asked.

“Don’t be an asshole, Emile isn’t a pervert,” Eli spoke up, narrowing his eyes at George. The eighteen year old meat head didn’t say anything to that, turning his attention to Eli and sneering at him. The goth shook his head and turned his gaze elsewhere, to their surroundings.

The houses looked different, so Eli knew now that they had reached the part of town they had been going for. Jakob seemed to notice too, because he stopped walking, which prompted everyone to stop. Then he looked at Toby.

“You know the drill.”

The “drill” was, Toby gets on a nearby rooftop and scouts for any Dogs coming nearby. Then, if he needs to, he takes them out with his sniper rifle on silent. And if there’s big trouble, he comes down and hurries back to the group.

Toby left them, and Jakob put a hand on his hip, looking at the others.

“Alright, let’s split into… threes. Mike, George, and Edie, go on over there,” the redhead pointed to a set of houses, and George rolled his eyes before going- motioning for Edie to go first.

From his observations, Eli noticed that there was something between George and Mike. He didn’t know what it was, but it was… new. They both had choppy hair, like the same person did it, Mike was the only one who could not only calm George down, but make him _listen_ to him, and George wasn’t too fond of the idea of other people but Mike or Jakob.

“And, that leaves us,” Jakob added, looking at Eli and Emile. The two shared glances with each other before Eli looked back to Jakob and motioned.

“Lead the way.”

Jakob walked them to their own set of houses, where they went inside the first. Guns and crossbow aimed, the three went through to make sure the house was clear, first. Jakob went down the hallway, and Eli and Emile went through the kitchen and front of the house.

It was silent besides the occasional gust of leaves blowing outside, that you could hear through the thin walls of the house. The rooms were bright because of the windows, which let the sunlight in for viewing. The house was chilly, though, like the one Eli and Emile were staying in.

Emile walked across a bedroom to the closet, while Eli looked under the bed. It was a girl’s room, with pink bedding and some unicorn stickers on the walls. The bed was empty, so Eli got back up and looked at Emile, who was inching towards the closed closet door.

“Algo apesta aquí,” the spaniard whispered, glancing back at Eli. When the goth didn’t say anything, Emile cleared his throat, realizing his error. “Something stinks in here,” he translated, motioning to the door. Eli walked over, sniffing the closet.

Emile was no liar: it stank. The goth stepped back, raising his crossbow. He glanced at Emile, nodding, and the spaniard hesitantly gripped the doorknob. As he turned the brass, Eli pulled his bolt back, giving a deep exhale as he studied the door.

“One,” he said.

“Two,” Emile turned the knob further.

“Three-”

“’House is clear,” Jakob sounded from the bedroom doorway, making both Eli and Emile jump. With Eli’s jump, though, he accidentally shot his crossbow, his bolt lodging into the top of the door. The goth shut his eyes, sighing.

“...What are you two doing?” Jakob asked, stepping into the room. Emile had long let go of the closet’s handle, looking at Jakob through wide eyes.

“¡podrías haber matado a alguien!” Emile threw his hands up at Jakob before looking at Eli’s bolt, jutting from the door and out of their reach. Jakob raised an eyebrow, a slight chuckle.

“What?”

“He probably said that you should knock first,” Eli turned to Jakob, glaring. “Seriously, do you do that to your own men?”

Jakob gave Eli a look before motioning for them both. “Come on, let’s search for supplies.”

Eli shook his head in frustration before grabbing Emile and pulling him along out of the room, after Jakob. They left the room before any of them could hear the _thunk_ from inside of the closet.

Since Emile was a little hesitant on killing, he was given the bag for canned goods. Since Eli was too thin to carry much of anything, Jakob had the bag for other things, like bags of cereal, and whatnot. That left Eli and Jakob responsible for Emile, since his bag was heavy.

This house that they were in, it had a load of canned goods. Sloppy Joe sauce: three. Mixed vegetables: four cans. Creamed Corn: three cans. Refried beans: three cans. Green beans: one. Spinach: two. Yams: two. Tomato sauce: two jars and one can. Apricots: two cans. Peaches: three cans. Cranberry sauce: four cans. Pink salmon: one waterless bag.

“You okay with that?” Jakob asked Emile, the spaniard nodding while adjusting the bag’s straps tighter. Jakob himself was carrying a light load. Rice crispy cereal: half a bag. Frosted flakes: half a bag.

“I’ve got to go to the bathroom,” Eli said when a sudden pain stuck up his stomach. Jakob nodded, looking under the kitchen sink for something. Emile was looking at Eli, though, and he saw the discomfort in the teen’s face before the goth turned, leaving the kitchen to the bathroom.

Emile looked back to Jakob.

“What are you looking for?” he asked.

“Cleaning stuff, for the medical wards. Look on for some medicine, huh?”

Emile gave a single nod before looking further in the kitchen. In Spain, his mamá always kept a first aid kit in the kitchen- ever since Edgar lost the tip of his left index finger cooking. And then when Edgar moved to the States, Mamá bought another to keep in the bathroom with the money he would send down for she and Emile.

Looking in the kitchen cupboards and cabinets, there was just cooking supplies. Everything looked relatively untouched; it was as though the family that lived here… didn’t live here. Everything was natural, nothing ransacked. Where was the family, though? Why was everything perfect? Why had no one searched this house yet?

These thoughts uneased Emile, but that was all. There was nothing that really made him say: “This is wrong”. Instead of that, he left the kitchen to find the bathroom, because there was no aid kit in there.

Eli had said that he was using the bathroom, so it would be awkward if Emile walked in on him. Knocking on the doors down the hallway, Emile asked at each: “Are you in there, Eli?”, to no answer. After he asked at each door, he would open it and peek inside, but he hadn’t come across the bathroom yet.

Now he had. Peeking inside of a room that had no response to his knock, he could see the toilet, but it was empty of a person.

This led Emile to look further, the spaniard pushing the door fully open to look inside. “Eli?” he asked, looking inside the bathroom.

Eli sat slumped against the bathtub, eyes closed and hands limp at his sides.

“Eli!” Emile stepped forward to the goth, but Eli suddenly spoke.

“Close the door.” It was quiet, strained. Emile shut the door behind him before hurrying to Eli and kneeling.

“What’s wrong?”

“I can’t move,” Eli panted, his eyes opening to look at Emile.

“Did a Dog get you? Come, get up.” Emile reached out to Eli, grabbing him around the waist to pull him up. The goth hissed in pain and shook his head, bringing his hands up to grip Emile’s shoulders tightly.

“I can’t- put me down,” Eli begged, moaning at the pain that traveled through him. Emile put Eli back on the ground, looking at his face.

“...What’s wrong?”

Eli panted and groaned, his head rolling back against the bathtub. “M-my stomach, it hurts so bad..”

Emile grabbed Eli’s shirt, lifting it up the goth’s torso to look. The fabric rubbing against his skin as Emile moved it, caused ripples of pain to travel up Eli’s torso, making him shudder and wince.

Underneath Eli’s shirt were his scars, but they looked normal. All of him looked normal, besides a flush at his chest, and some red blotches across his torso- like an allergic reaction. Emile was used to that, because of his allergy to fish.

“Did you eat something bad?” Emile asked, looking up at Eli. The goth shook his head, closing his eyes again.

“I haven’t eaten anything..”

 _Knock knock knock_.

“Guys?” Jakob asked from the other side of the door. Eli exhaled deeply.

“Don’t let him know,” he murmured.

Emile stood up and walked to the door, peeking out at Jakob. “Eli is looking at the back yard.”

Jakob scoffed. “For what?”

“...He likes to hunt.”

“Fair enough. Did you find any medical supplies yet?”

“No, not yet.”

“Alright, I’m gonna check out the shed. In ten minutes, we’re all gonna meet up out front; George will bring his group, too.”

Emile nodded before shutting the door again. He stood by the door for a moment, listening for Jakob to leave. When he heard the man’s footsteps, he turned back to Eli, who was asleep.

Kneeling before Eli again, Emile nudged him by the shoulder.

“Eli?”

“ _Eli?” Joseph nudged the goth’s shoulder, making the teen open his eyes and glare at him in annoyance._

“ _What?”_

“ _Marla isn’t in bed.”_

“ _What?” Eli sat up on the floor, blinking away his sleep so that he could see. In the darkness, Emile, Mary, and Conrad were all still asleep. Marla, on the other hand, wasn’t. “Well, I don’t know where she went,” Eli muttered as he stood up from his blanket. Joseph also stood, from his kneeling position._

“ _I don’t either- she talks to you often, right? Maybe she’s said something before? I’ve already looked where we would have gone, and she isn’t there.”_

_Eli exhaled, looking at Joseph. It was true, Marla did confide in Eli and such, because Conrad was being a prick, now._

“I like large windows,” _Eli remembered Marla telling him once._ “It reminds me of peace.”

_There was a building about a half block away, with large windows that Marla had pointed out to Eli while the group walked by, to the hideout they were at now._

“ _Okay, I might know where she is,” Eli grumbled, bending over to grab his crossbow. When he stood straight again, Joseph gave him a look of concern._

“ _Should I come with you?”_

“ _No, it’s fine. There aren’t any Dogs here, remember?” Eli quirked an eyebrow at Joseph, confused as to how the aid could have forgotten. Joseph nodded, a light clearing of his throat._

“ _Right, yes. Just… be careful, yeah?” He looked back at Eli, who shrugged._

“ _Okay.”_

 _Walking passed Joseph, Eli left the shed they were all sleeping in to head back to the building of windows, where Marla had_ hopefully _gone._

_The moonlight helped Eli to see, and the weather was fine, so he wasn’t pissing himself from the cold. The sky was full of stars, though, which tried to distract him._

Focus _, Eli._

_Eli walked by a house with an empty dog house, a broken chain trailing out of it._

_If only Dogs were just… dogs. You could chain them up, make them listen, scold them. The new Dogs that inhabited the world couldn’t do anything. They just killed._

_The reason why Eli and the rest called them “Dogs” was because a day after the outbreak, there was a radio report that said, specifically,_ “Everyone is being ordered to stay indoors while the National Guard comes to help those left. Do not have contact with those of the infected: the president of the United States has alerted us that there has been an outbreak of a new rabies disease that drives people insane. We repeat, do not come into contact with those infected. Stay in your homes and wait for the National Guard to arrive.”

_This all started from an adapted form of rabies. Who would have thought. So, the teens dubbed them “Dogs”._

_The building soon came into Eli’s view, and he walked to the entrance, stepping inside._

“ _Marla!” he called, looking around. The giant windows allowed the moon’s light to shine inside, guiding his way._

_There was a set of escalators, so Eli went to them, walking up the powerless steps._

“ _Marla, are you here?” he called again. There was nothing._

_Once up on the second floor, Eli looked around at the windows that lined it. She hadn’t replied, but Marla stood at a window, looking out of it at the night. The moon lit up her face in a pale embrace, making her eyes twinkle._

“ _Marla,” Eli walked to her, reaching out to pat her arm. “Marla, what are you doing here?”_

_Marla looked at him, her eyes glossy. She blinked in shock at seeing him before rubbing her eyes, laughing._

“ _Jeez, sorry about that, Eli. I um…” She shook her head, looking back out of the window. Eli followed her gaze._

_The night was beautiful, and calming. He knew why she was here- to remember her friends and family. But, it was a risk._

_Looking at Marla again, Eli grabbed her. “Come on,” he said softly, and she nodded, the two turning from the glass._

_A yard before them, was a Dog. It stood facing them, but its head to the side, like it were looking elsewhere. It… didn’t have eyes, though- the organs gauged out. They both stared at it for a long time before Eli looked at Marla._

“ _...It isn’t attacking us,” he whispered, the Dog standing completely still. Marla nodded slowly._

“ _I… don’t think it… can see us.”_

“ _Or hear us?”_

“ _...No.”_

_Eli rose his crossbow, so that he could load it, but Marla reached out and grabbed his arm, stopping him. He looked at her._

“ _Save your bolts- let’s just...” she stepped to the side, quietly, watching the Dog. It didn’t twitch. Looking at Eli again, Marla nodded before taking another step. Eli bit his cheek and went after her._

_They managed to get all the way across the floor, back to the escalators. Quietly making their way down the steps, the two made it safely to the bottom. But- when the two looked at the front door, there was a Dog walking by outside._

“ _I saw a side entrance,” Marla stated, looking at Eli. The goth nodded, following Marla as she led the way to it. It was on the other side of the first floor, down a hall where a door had an_ EXIT _sign above it. Outside looked clear. Marla must have ventured the building a bit before finding her window, which meant that she could have been attacked at any time. What a reckless girl. Why would she do this?_

“ _Why did you leave?” Eli asked her, the two walking to the exit door._

“ _...Today’s Jeff’s birthday. He would have taken me for a nighttime walk,” Mary answered quietly. Eli glanced at her. His mind told him to ask more, that it would make her happy._

“ _How old is he?” he asked, and she smiled. His mind was right._

“ _Nineteen. I’ll be his age in a month.”_

“ _That’s-” Eli tugged the doorknob, but the door didn’t open, “nice.”_

“ _Is it locked?” Marla asked._

_Eli tried again, but it was stuck. “I… think so.” On the door’s reflection, Eli saw that eyeless dog- rushing at he and Marla. Grabbing the teen, Eli pulled her out of the way just as the dog lunged, slamming into the door. Marla didn’t scream, she simply turned and ran with Eli, because screaming did nothing in these situations._

“ _Find a room to lock it out!” Marla called, Eli looking around the floor as they ran. There was a door that said_ Human Resources _, and Eli pointed._

“ _There!”_

_The two changed course for it, running to the door as the dog ran after them. Running inside the room, Eli slammed the door shut after them, severing their contact with the dog._

_They missed the_ UNDER CONSTRUCTION _sign in their panic._

_There were no windows to help them see, the room pitch black. Feeling around, Eli couldn’t feel Marla near him anymore._

“ _Marla?” His voice echoed in the darkness, the teen holding out his hands to feel for what he couldn’t see._

“ _I’m here!” Marla called, her voice bouncing around the room. Stepping forward to find her, Eli stepped on a soft spot of flooring and the ground suddenly collapsed from under him, sending him falling. His head cracked against the ground a floor below, knocking him unconscious._

_Opening his eyes, he could see the moon shining in through windows through his blurry eyes. Blinking a few times and swallowing down blood, he finally managed to clear his vision._

_Marla lay beside him, her face pale and bloody. His eyes growing wide, Eli looked down her body and saw the eyeless dog eating her stomach, her large intestine draped from its bloody hands._

“ _Marla,” Eli croaked, looking back to her face. Her eyes were staring through him, lifeless. It struck terror and sadness through him, his body racking with sobs. “Marla,” he said again, his voice broken._

“ _Get away from them!” Joseph yelled from the entrance, running to his fallen friends. The dog didn’t acknowledge him, it just kept eating her. Behind Joseph was Conrad, who forced himself to run just a little more ahead when he saw Marla._

“ _Marla!” the jock cried, running to her. He grabbed the dog by its head and tore it from Marla, its grasp tight around her intestine and pulling it with itself as Conrad threw it to the floor. Then the jock started smashing its face into the floor, bashing it into mush._

_Joseph dropped down beside Eli, keeping his gaze from Marla because he knew she was dead. It didn’t stop him from his eyes filling with tears, though._

“ _Are you okay?” he asked the goth, his voice strained. Eli didn’t say anything, staring at Marla’s face._

_He should have killed that dog when he had a chance. Why didn’t she let him kill it? Why? Why? Why?_

“ _Eli,” Joseph grabbed the teen, pulling him to sit up. There was blood on the floor from where his head had hit it, so Joseph put a hand over the wound and looked at Conrad._

_The jock had bashed the dog’s head in until its nose was gone and its teeth were scattered on the floor, its chin smashed in. Stomping on its head one more time, Conrad fell beside Marla’s body, looking her over._

“ _Marla, wake up,” he said, patting her cheek. Joseph dropped his gaze down to Eli, a tear dropping from his eye as he contained himself._

“ _Marla,_ wake up _!” Conrad grabbed the girl’s shoulders, gripping her tight. He knew she was dead. He knew that they were too late to save her, and that she was_ dead _. But she was Jeff’s girlfriend, and Jeff was his best friend- she was what linked him back to Jeff. He swore to himself to keep her safe for his friend._

_She was dead._

“ _MARLA!” he screamed, dropping his head into her lifeless chest and sobbing._

_It somehow broke Eli from his trance, and he started crying himself, bring a hand up to limply cover his face. Joseph bit back his crying, because he would have to explain to Mary and Emile, and he couldn’t break down._

_Conrad growled in discomfort and anger before slipping his hands under Marla, picking her up and standing. Her body was lifeless and limp in his arms- a real live corpse._

“ _We’re giving her a funeral,” he said and sniffed, and Joseph nodded, picking Eli up and standing, too. The aid couldn’t talk, so he just nodded again, because it wasn’t even a question. Marla would get a funeral._

_Eli still sobbed, covering his eyes with his hand. He could still see Marla, her dead expression burned into his sight._

_Following Conrad out of the building, Joseph whispered to Eli._

“ _It’s alright.”_

“It’s alright, I’ll just… just...” Emile paced the bathroom before Eli, gripping his hair. “¿Por qué, por qué? ¿ _P_ or qué Iyo _?_ ”

“Emile,” Eli spoke, sitting forward from the bathtub. His stomach wasn’t hurting anymore, but he didn’t feel necessarily fine.

Emile looked at Eli like he was a ghost, but then he grinned. “¡Bien! ¡Su es bueno! ¡Gracias, _gracias_!” he dropped down in front of Eli, grabbing the goth’s shoulders. “¿Estás bien?”

“ _English_ , Emile.”

“Ah, sorry- are you okay? You’re alright?”

Eli nodded. “...I think so.”

There was a sudden loud _crack_ from the front of the house, and the two looked at each other before Emile helped Eli to stand, the goth standing alright.

Before Emile could ask what it was, Eli was already leaving the bathroom to see, prompting the spaniard to follow, nonetheless.

The front door had a gunshot through it, and outside, the two could hear Jakob’s crew yelling.

“Hurry up!”

“Get out here!”

“ _Infected_!”

Eli and Emile looked at each other again before rushing outside. Jakob and the others were shooting dogs that had emerged from somewhere unknown, Toby shooting from the rooftop to help them. Jakob looked at Eli and Emile, and he glared like they had something to do with it. Then he looked at the others.

“Fall back, come on! Let’s go!” he hollered, and the members started running. Eli and Emile followed, a total of seven dogs after them.

“Eli!” Emile called, and the goth looked back. Emile seemed to be slowing down- from the canned goods. Mike seemed to notice.

“Drop the bag! Just leave it!” he called, which got everyone else’s attention.

“No, don’t drop it!” Jakob called out in return, looking at Mike. “We can’t leave those here!”

“They’re too heavy for him!” Mike argued. Eli looked back at Emile.

The bag was sloshing on Emile’s back, the cans slapping him hard on his spine and neck, making him wince while running. He seemed to be falling further behind.

The goth stopped running and started shooting the dogs with his bolts, keeping them back from Emile while the spaniard caught up to the rest.

“Hurry up, Emile!” Eli called.

“ _Eli, hurry!_ ” Eli could remember Joseph calling for him, on the bus.

Emile fell back some more.

“Emile!”

“ _Eli!”_

Emile put more speed to his strained running, looking at the dogs behind him.

“Leave the bag!” Mike called again, and Jakob yelled at him.

“Tell him to do that one more time, and we’re leaving you!”

Emile started getting closer to Eli, and he tossed out his hand for the goth while running, for help. Eli shot a dog in the head before reaching out to Emile and slapping their hands together when the spaniard finally reached him.

“ _Eli, take my hand now!”_

“I’ve got you,” Eli said to him, looking into his brown eyes. He held Emile’s hand tight, turning and pulling the brunette along as he ran after the group again.


End file.
